Fate: Chaos
by Chash123
Summary: Instead of allowing fate to run its usual course, the corrupted Holy Grail decides to mix things up a bit. This one action will throw the Fourth Holy Grail War, and fate itself, into utter chaos. Inspired by The Infamous Man's "Fate: Zero Sense".
1. Once Again (Different Servants):

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

* * *

Legend:

"Someone is talking."  
_'Someone is thinking.'  
_"A technique/Noble Phantasm is being used."

* * *

Once Again (You Have Different Servants):

* * *

(Fuyuki City—Industrial District—Abandoned Warehouse)

Kirei Kotomine could be considered "disturbed". People would consider him twisted, since he only understood and felt remotely "whole" when he watched the misfortune of others. This had disturbed him as he had been raised as a devout but nothing he did seemed to make him happy. He had learned and mastered many different skills to the level of people calling him a "prodigy" but none of them had ever satisfied.

Once, he had thought that a woman might make him feel happy, and had married. He had even had a child with her. But, still, he had felt nothing. In fact, a couple years into his marriage he had confessed to his wife. His concerns, his worries... everything, really. This had somehow convinced her to commit suicide while leaving behind a note that said she hoped her death would show him he could feel compassion for others.

Instead, it had made him wish he could've killed her himself.

Alarmed and troubled, he had sent his daughter away to his wife's relatives. Even though he didn't care for the child, he didn't want to hurt her. If she had remained... he feared for himself and what he might've done.

That begged the question of why he had been chosen as a Master for the upcoming Holy Grail War. He had no desire for the Holy Grail or any wish to possess it. So, _why_? Why had it chosen him to compete in the war? It wouldn't help him understand why he felt the way he did. It wouldn't make him understand how he could feel "whole". It wouldn't make him any happier.

Despite these questions, however, Kirei was still going to enter the war. His father, Risei Kotomine, had entered into a pact with Tokiomi Tohshaka so that they could get the Holy Grail. As part of that pact, Tokiomi had trained him in Magecraft for three years. At the end of that period, he had made his "break up" with Tokiomi as public as possible before "storming off". This would convince the other Masters that they weren't working together which, in reality, they would be,

At the moment, he was inside an abandoned warehouse, having just completed the ritual to summon his Servant, Assassin. Tokiomi had provided him with the mask of Hassan-i-Sabbah, or the "Old Man of the Mountain", as his catalyst to summon that particular Assassin.

The smoke finally cleared and allowed Kirei to look at his Servant. _Wait_... that wasn't Hassan-i-Sabbah was supposed to look like. Hassan-i-Sabbah was supposed to be tall, clothed in black cloth, and have his face covered with a white mask.

Hassan-i-Sabbah was not supposed to look like a teenager with shaggy black hair and an olive skin tone. He was not supposed to be wearing an American-looking aviator's jacket, a black shirt with a Jolly Rodger on it, black jeans, and black-white sneakers. The only reason that Kirei could even assume that he was a Servant was the small, silver dagger-like sword attached to his belt and the all-but palpable aura of power that surrounded him.

"I am the Servant Assassin." The black-haired teenager said, assessing him with black-colored eyes. "I ask of you, are you my Master?"

"... Yes." Kirei responded after a moment of thought. With this teenager being Assassin instead of Hassan-I-Sabbath, he would have to inform his father, Risei, and Tokiomi and await their judgment on how he should precede in the future.

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Miyamachou—Tohsaka Manor)

At the moment, Tokiomi Tohsaka could be found staring at his summoned Servant, Archer, with a carefully polite expression on his face. Archer was a bespectacled teenager of average height with straight, chin-length raven-colored hair that framed both sides of his face, pale white skin, and blue eyes. He was wearing a form-fitting, high-collared white tunic with blue trim, white pants, and white shoes.

_'... This is_ _not Gilgamesh.' _Tokiomi thought.

When Kirei had reported in with news of his unexpected Servant, Tokiomi hadn't really taken it as the warning it was. He had quickly come to the conclusion that the catalyst he had given young Kirei must've belonged to the Heroic Spirit that Kirei had summoned instead of Hassan-I-Sabbath. The point was, though, he had believed that he would still be able to summon Gilgamesh with the skin of the first snake he would be using as his summoning catalyst... after he had made sure that it actually was that.

Now, however, was Tokiomi realizing the folly of his ways. It wasn't that the catalysts that he and young Kirei had been used were wrong, but something else. The Holy Grail had apparently decided to ignore the catalysts they had used and had decided on giving them Heroic Spirits that best matched them as Servants. It was a viable explanation, the only reasonable explanation that he come up with, but also rather irritating.

Still, not all was lost. He and young Kirei had indeed summoned their own Servants. Their plan would require some tweaking based on what they learned about each of their individual Servants and their skillsets, but that was fine. They would make do with what they had and change accordingly.

"I ask of you, are you my Master?" Archer asked stoically.

Tokiomi's right arm went to cover his stomach horizontally before he gave his Servant a polite bow. Even if this Servant wasn't Gilgamesh and didn't appear to possess the arrogance that the fabled King of Kings was rumored to possess, it would be best to show proper respect lest he anger Archer. "Yes. I am Tokiomi Tohsaka."

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Shinto—Hynatt Hotel)

Unlike the previous two Masters who had been calm in the face of their unexpected Servant, Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi was not. He was practically livid as he stood, glaring, at the form of the Heroic Spirit that he had summoned as his Servant. "What have you done with Diarmuid, woman?!"

Still, Kayneth's anger could be excused. One of his former students had stolen his first catalyst, a part of the legendary Alexander the Great's cape, and run off with it. Kayneth had then brought out his "backup" catalyst, the remnants of the mystical swords Moralltach and Beagalltach, which were supposed to have summoned Diarmuid Ua Dauibhne,. So when he didn't summon Diarmuid and had instead summoned this woman, well... it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

The Heroic Spirit in question was a tall woman with long and curly orange hair that fell to her mid-back, peach-colored skin, and dark-blue eyes. She was wearing little else except a striped green-white bikini top, a pair of blue jeans, and black sandals. On one of her shoulders was some kind of tattoo that looked like a stylized "X". To finish it off, she was pointing the end of a long, blue-colored metal staff at Kayneth.

"How should I know?! All that I know is that you are the one that summoned me here... but she—" A brief gesture over to Sola-Ui, Kayneth's fiancé, sitting on a nearby couch and caused the other woman to blink, "—would make a good Master, too!"

Kayneth's anger at the woman only grew at her response but he bit his tongue, holding back the scathing comments that threatened to spill from his lips. The Servant he had summoned, Lancer judging by the fact that she was holding a spear, was pointing her weapon at him. Even if it looked harmless that weapon could in fact be one of her Noble Phantasms—the crystallized memories based on knowledge of the Heroic Spirit's existence.

"I do apologize for my fiancé, Lancer." Sola-Ui said before she got up from her seat and walked over the Lancer, "Lord El-Melloi is frustrated because a former student of his stole his summoning catalyst and his newest summoning catalyst, which was supposed to summon Diarmuid Ua Dauibhne, summoned you instead. He does not mean to anger or insult you, Lancer: Kayneth is just frustrated over the situation."

Lancer looked at Sola-Ui for a moment, considering her words. After a moment, she turned away from the two Mages and lowered her staff, "I guess I can understand that. I hate it when somebody steals from me and can be quite angry when I find out about it until I have gotten it back or an item of equal worth to replace it."

While Lancer's back was still turned, Sola-Ui shot a cold look towards her fiancé. The message within those orbs was clear: "I stepped in to fix your mistake this one time, Kayneth, but I will not do so again." He turned away after giving her a slightly angry look but conceded the point. Even if Lancer wasn't Diarmuid, she was still his Servant and, thus, his ticket to winning the Holy Grail War.

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Miyamachou—Matou Mansion)

Kariya Matou was currently kneeling on the ground, staring up at his summoned Servant with a confused expression in his functional eye. He didn't know what he had expected to summon when Zouken had given him that summoning catalyst and additional lines to add to the summoning aria but it wasn't _him_...

"Are you okay, dude? You don't look so well..." Berserker asked with a concerned expression.

Based on the class of his Servant, Kariya had kind of expected to be summoning some kind of mindless brute or monster. Not... a green-skinned teenager with spiky, dark-green hair, black eyebrows, and dark-green eyes. Or someone wearing a black and purple jumpsuit with grey boots, a grey utility belt, and grey shoes. Not only did Berserker look ridiculous, he didn't even match an iota of what Berserkers were supposed to look like.

"Duuuuude." Berserker said, dragging out the word while snapping his fingers in front of Kariya's face, startling him. "Finally! I've been trying to talk to you for a while and you weren't listening to me. Were you having a nice time in la-la land?"

"S-Sorry, Berserker." Kariya apologized, "I was just... lost in thought."

Neither of them noticed the old man behind them narrow his eyes. _'That is not Lancelot of the Lake.'_ He thought before his carefully neutral expression morphed as he began to frown. _'I should've realized that an untalented novice like Kariya would muck things up.'_

XXXXXX

(Forest Near Fuyuki City)

Waver Velvet fell back onto his but as smoke billowed out from his recently created summoning array. Ever since he had discovered the existence of the Holy Grail War, and having taken his teacher's summoning catalyst, he was ecstatic.

This Holy Grail War would be the perfect place to show those snobs back at the Clock Tower that they were wrong. Who cared if you weren't a part of a Magus family that had existed for hundreds of years? A Magus born from a first generation Magus family, or an ordinary family, could just be as great as those from those higher generation families! In this war, he was going to prove that. And, by doing that, he would finally get the recognition he deserved.

Waver frowned as, instead of a man, a woman stepped out from the smoke. The woman in question had long, auburn-colored hair, blue eyes, and pale white skin. She was wearing a military khaki blazer with an olive green tie, though, instead of shoes her legs were encased in what looked like the front of some military aircraft. What was even stranger, however, were the white bunny ears sticking out of her hair and the white tail sticking out from her backside.

To say the least, Waver almost passed out from blood loss at the first sight of the woman. _'S-She's... beautiful!'_ It was hard to say, though, if he was thinking that because of the size of her chest, the cute "accessories", or the fact that she wasn't wearing a skirt, allowing him to see her white panties.

"I am Rider." The woman placed a hand to her chest before she tilted her head to the side. "Are you my Master?"

"Y-Yes... Yes I am." Waver managed to choke out. Forgive him for sounding so weak in front of his Servant, but he was still dealing with the fact that his Servant was a beautiful young woman. And the way she had said "Master" made shivers go down his spine, making him wonder if she had done it on purpose.

Rider beamed, "Yay~!" She rushed over to him faster than he could blink and enveloped him in a tight hug. "I knew it couldn't have been anyone besides you, but... Master?" She looked down towards her Master, seeing the blood coming from his nose and the whites of his eyes. "Master?! Are you okay?!"

"Y-Yeah..."

* * *

**A/N: Author's Note: **Well, that's the end of this chapter. As you guys can see, I have decided to try and turn this ficlet into a full-fledged fanfiction. A special thanks go to The Infamous Man_, _Highvalour, Sharkteeth, and countless others that have inspired me to try and write this. If you have the time, you should check out their stories, as they're _really_ good.

To finish off this off, I'm asking if you guys can figure out the identities for the Servants that were summoned in this chapter? Those that are able to figure it out (that haven't guessed already (in my idea bin)) will get a special mention next chapter, alongside a couple of those who got it correct when this fanfiction was still a ficlet.


	2. The Calm Before the Storm:

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

* * *

Legend:

"Someone is talking."  
_'Someone is thinking.'  
_"A technique/Noble Phantasm is being used."

* * *

The Calm Before the Storm:

* * *

(Fuyuki City—Mackenzie Residence)

At the moment, one could find Rider sitting on a couch in the Mackenzie's living room, reading the newspaper that her Master had managed to acquire for her. It had been a couple of days since she had been summoned and, like she had first believed about him, her Master was kind if a bit high-strung. That was okay, though, as she had initially thought she was going to be summoned by someone who would bark orders and not listen to her opinions.

_'Master isn't like that.'_ Rider thought as she remembered the past few days. How Master had supplied her with maps of the surrounding area, getting her a newspaper to stay on top of events, and even allowed her to stay materialized and live with his grandparents. She still had to hide any traces that she was a Servant and wear clothes of this modern age, as well as pretend to be a friend of Master's from his school, but that was fine.

Speaking of her Master's family... Rider had been happy to meet them once her Master had opened the door for her. Mr. and Mrs. Mackenzie were kind, hardworking people that had both retired from work to live out their golden years. They both obviously loved their children and grandchildren (as shown by how they acted towards her Master) and treated her like a member of it. It was all-but perfect.

_'If I could just get that bathtub, then everything would be perfect.' _Rider thought with a small pout. The bathtub in the house was quaint, but it didn't exactly suit her tastes. She had told her Master this and asked if she could have one shipped in from a magazine she had seen, only to be foiled when he had pointed out the cost of it and how it would attract unnecessary attention to themselves. So, in an effort to distract herself from the thought of it, Rider went back to her newspaper. "What's this...?"

Rider's eyes began to narrow as she read the article of Fuyuki City's latest, and first ever, serial killer. The police had no clues as to who was committing these murders with only the evidence of the murders left behind. The killer murdered three families and then used their blood to make "strange-looking pentagrams" on the floor. The description of the pentagram, it was eerily similar to the one she had been summoned in. So...

The newspaper fell her lap as Rider stared at it in disgust. "Why would a Master do this?"

"What did you say, Rider?" Waver asked as he came into the room, having finished with the breakfast dishes. The look on his Servant's face made him feel more and more uneasy before he took the paper that Rider offered him. Once he began reading the article that Rider had, his unease bloomed into horrified disgust.

As her Master read through the article, Rider noticed how his grip tightened until his knuckles were bone-white. It was obvious that her Master was getting upset at this. And why wouldn't he? While blood could help empower a summoning ritual, it wasn't needed to summon a Servant. Especially in such volumes of _human _blood that the paper didn't mention, but judging by the size of the pentagrams, were used.

And as those summoning circles had appeared at each crime scene but it still hadn't stopped. It meant that the Master responsible hadn't yet summoned their Servant yet. It also meant that they _wanted_ to kill all these people.

_'The question is why... Why would a Master be committing these crimes and drawing attention to themselves?'_

XXXXXX

Uryuu Ryuunosuke was currently mumbling the instructions of his ancestor's book to himself as he painted a symbol onto the floor with his bare feet. "Fill, fill, fill'er up, fill…. Repeat four times…" He paused to look back at the book with a confused expression, "Or was it five?"

"Um, destroy each when filled. Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill… Yes! Exactly five times! Okay!" He paused as he heard the TV play its report about the three other families he had killed and a warning to the public to 'be alert and stay safe'. Funny stuff. "... maybe I had a little to much fun?"

Uryuu shut off the TV. He had no worries about the police or even if they would catch him. While he had fun with each killing, he made sure to be extra careful in cleaning up after himself. He had no want or need to be caught because he had left a stray fingerprint or something that the police could link back to him. If he did, the police would find him and spoil his fun.

He heard a whimpering noise and looked to see the youngest, scared shitless son of the two headless corpses still hogtied right where he left him.

"Do you think demons exist?" Uryuu began with a thoughtful expression. "The news keeps calling me a demon, but I think that's a little rude if demons actually do exist, don't you think so?" He walked in front of the kid, whose eyes widened with each step. He kneeled down, "Sup! I am Uryuu Ryuunosuke, and I'm a demon! But I don't know if that's how I should be introducing myself…"

Uryuu then waved his ancestors' notes at the kid. "You know, I found this old book while digging around my storehouse! It looks like my ancestors were trying to summon demons. So like, I gotta see if demons actually do exist!" The kid started crying. "But if one actually does pop out, I'd have to be pretty dumb to not offer it something. So kiddo…" He then patted the boy's shivering head and asked, "If a demon actually comes, do you mind if we let it kill you?"

The kid screamed into his gags and began thrashing around in a desperate attempt to get free. Uryuu laughed at the kid's expression, which only made the kid scream harder and thrash harder. Oh, this was priceless!

"I wonder what it would be li—Ow!" Uryuu began to say, only to grimace when it felt like someone had just set his hand on fire. He looked down at the offending appendage, only to see three red, scythe-like markings slowly burn themselves onto the back of his hand. His circle glowed red and started to billow out smoke. "Wha…?"

A figure slowly walked out of the smoke, surprising Uryuu. It was a woman with long, untamed pink hair, brown eyes, and white skin. She wore a black hat with bandaged sides, a tan tunic, black shorts, and black sandals. She sneered, "Are you my shitty "Master?""

"Um…" Uryuu began, rubbing the back of his head. He honestly hadn't expected this… "I'm Uryuu Ryuunosuke. I'm unemployed and I like killing people pretty much. Especially women and children."

The woman's sneer grew to resemble a light grimace, "Keep your personal preferences to yourself, shithead." There was a pause as the woman glared at him, as if waiting for a comeback, only to scoff when none came. "So I got a weak-willed shithead as a Master, huh? At least I was summoned as Caster..."

"Okay…" Uryuu drawled out. Honestly, he didn't get much of what the woman was trying to say. There was a moment of silence before he pointed to the surprised-looking kid who had stopped struggling in the wake of watching the woman, Caster, appear. "Hey, you wanna kill this kid?"

The kid's eyes bulged as Caster turned to look at him. She slowly withdrew a silver flute from one of her sleeves, put it to her lips, and then closed her eyes as she began to play. Uryuu was disappointed at this—having expected something more _fun_—until the kid began to scream. He looked on as the kid's screaming got louder and louder before blood began to pour from his ears.

"Wha-?"

Caster finished on a high note that made the kid scream as if he was being impaled before his voice was suddenly cut off. She then lowered the flute from her mouth as Uryuu rushed over to her, a slight bush on his cheeks, after the kid had stopped breathing and died. _'What the _hell_?'_

"That was really cool~! You used your music to—" Uryuu began to say.

Uryuu never got to finish his statement or even ask if Caster could do that again as Caster had began to play her flute again. His words were cut off as he found himself suddenly getting more and more sleepy as time went on. By the time that Uryuu realized what was going on, that she was putting him to sleep, his vision had blurred until Caster looked more like a pinkish-tan blob then the person she was.

She was saying something, too, but he couldn't hear it. "I can tell that you aren't a Magus, so you won't be that good of a Master too me. Don't worry, though, I'm not going to kill you. I'm just going to have to make a few changes and then store you away somewhere safe until this fucking War comes to an end."

XXXXXX

"Uh-uh! No way, dude, no _way_!" Berserker shouted before he pointed to where Kariya was laying down on a moldy-looking mattress. "No way are we staying in a dump like this! I refuse!"

Kariya rolled over, trying to get more comfortable. "I have nowhere else to go, Berserker. I refuse to stay in the same place as _that man _and my landlord wouldn't recognize me and allow me into my apartment." He sighed, "I don't know how to do hypnotism either, so I can't hypnotize somebody in letting me stay with them either..."

"So? Dude, we could get a room at a nearby hotel or something! One with a nice bed, a TV, room service, and... _video games_." The last word was said almost reverently by Berserker. A moment passed before the green-skinned Servant spoke again, "And what do you have against that old man anyway, dude? Sure he is old and wears those weird robe-like thingies... and is kind creepy... I mean, did you see how he looked at me?! Like I was meat! Well, I can morph into meat... but that's not the point!

Kariya sighed. Trust him to summon a Servant that seemed to have an unhealthy interest in video games, short attention span, and just wouldn't stop _talking_? Why had he summoned this Heroic Spirit? And why wouldn't Berserker just leave him alone? He had no wish to talk about Zouken, Matou family, or about anything. He just wanted to curl up and go to _sleep_.

"Hey! Are you listening to me?" Berserker demanded with a frown. His eyebrow twitched when he heard Kariya snore before his ears drooped, "Not even Raven fell asleep when I trying to talk to her..." He startled at the name, having not even thought of what he had been saying before it had come out of his mouth. Ice coiled around his heart as he remembered the woman, "Raven..."

Oh, how he wished that day had turned out differently. If they had, then maybe—Kariya snored and Berserker's glazed eyes cleared slightly. Yes... now he remembered. This war would was a chance for him to fix things. If he and Kariya won and got the Holy Grail, he could use the wish it granted him to go back. Go back and stop the events from that day from ever happening.

Maybe then he wouldn't feel so guilty inside.

XXXXXX

"The final Servant has been summoned." Kirei stated as he stood staring at the distant mansion that was the Tohsaka Manor. "It is time."

"Really? I never would have thought..." Assassin mocked lightly as he emerged from the shadows behind his Master. He overlooked the cliff where his target lay, glancing at the distant courtyard, before he turned away from his Master. "You don't have to say anything, Master. I know what I'm supposed to do: it shouldn't take too long."

"Good." Kirei said.

One of Assassin's eyes twitched before he shook his head. It wasn't worth it to start something with his Master. His Master was devoutly religious and, well, very _boring_. If not for the fact that he had been summoned by Kirei and was bound to serve him as his Servant, Assassin wouldn't have hung out with him.

Still, even if he didn't particularly care for his Master, Assassin could not and would not ever doubt his Master's obvious intellect or his various skills. Kirei had proven to be very smart, quickly defeating and outthinking him in every single games of chess that they had to pass the time. In addition, his Master had also proven to be a natural prodigy in almost every field that he had been instructed him and so had numerous skills that, when combined with his intelligence, made him truly a dangerous individual.

Assassin shook himself from his thoughts by reminding himself that they were not important before he melded back into the shadows. Once there, he entered the shadows and began running along a pathway of shadows. In his younger years, Shadow Travelling had greatly exhausted him whenever he had used it but, now, it barely even made him work up a sweat. It was actually kind of relaxing to him now, if he had to tell the true.

When he had told the others about how relaxing Shadow Travelling had become for him in life, they had looked to him as if he was crazy. Which he just might be. Who knew how much had changed or broken during his imprisonment? _'No one.'_ Assassin answered himself.

In the next moment, Assassin emerged from a shadow within the Tohsaka Manor's courtyard and studied it for a brief moment. He then began to walk forward, weaving around the invisible Bounded Fields that were inside the courtyard and protected Tohsaka Manor.

Assassin could have just simply used his control over the shadows to lash out at the visible sources of the Bounded Fields, the prana-filled jewels on pedestals, but he wanted to test himself a bit. He hadn't really gone through a deadly obstacle course in a long time. If his Master asked, he could always say that he didn't want to use any of his power yet. The Servant that the head of the Tohsaka family had summoned would notice him, Presence Concealment or not, and come to eliminate him.

Reaching the first jewel, Assassin unsheathed his dagger from his belt and stabbed it through the gem. The prana from within the jewel was absorbed into his weapon in mere seconds which made him smile at the sudden influx of energy. He then slithered to the next jewel's pedestal and repeated the process and then again for the third jewel.

_'One left..._' Assassin thought as he stared at the final jewel. That jewel was the main jewel that was holding up the Tohsaka Manor's Bounded Fields. So, when he took that out, all of the remaining Bounded Fields around the Tohsaka Manor would fall. "Now. Σκιές του υποκόσμου (Shadows of the Underworld)."

Shadows surged outward from his dagger as it grew the weapon grew in length. Soon enough, the dagger came to resemble a pitch-black longsword that's bore no reflection. Assassin pointed this sword at the final prana-filled jewel as shadows began to gather at the tip of it.

"φωτι—"

Before Assassin could finish his command, a light blue-white arrow pierced the hand that was holding his sword and forced him to drop it. The Servant of the Shadows hissed from the pain and then twisted around to face his sudden attacker, ignoring the blood trickling from his newest wound. It would heal soon enough, anyway. He found his attacker standing on the roof of the Tohsaka Manor, glaring down at him.

It was a teenage male with straight, chin-length raven-colored hair that framed both sides of his face, pale white skin, and blue eyes. He was wearing a form-fitting, high-collared tunic with blue trim, white pants, and white shoes. In the teenager's hands was a bow made out of bluish-white energy with a bluish-white arrow nocked and ready to fire at a moment's notice.

"Archer." Assassin said with a small sneer.

In response, Archer began to release a series of arrows towards Assassin. The speed at which they travelled made Assassin's eyes widen before he dropped to the floor. He rolled to the side to avoid decapitation, grabbed his dagger, and quickly got onto his feet. He then jumped upwards towards the Servant of the Bow, absorbing one of the flying arrows and deflected another. _'Just a little more and—'_

"Licht Regen (Light Rain)." Archer's hands became a blur as he generated and pulled back on his bow, releasing countless arrows that then flew towards Assassin like blue-white bullets.

While Assassin was able to absorb and deflect a couple of the arrows, it was obvious that he was in over his head. One arrow bit into the flesh of Assassin's knee, slowing him down enough so that he became unable of dodging the majority of the arrows. He put on a show of deflecting them but even then it wasn't enough as the number of arrows _doubled_ and then _tripled_.

Finally, Assassin was pushed back and was propelled towards the ground, carving a small trench into the ground. He managed to look up in pained shock as the arrows never once stopped impacting and tearing into his body. "D-Damn... y-you..." He cursed in a raspy voice before his vision went black. Even then, the arrows continued to hit him until Archer stopped making arrows and allowed his bow to dissipate into the air.

Archer looked down at the mess that was once Assassin and pushed up his glasses. "I applaud you for your skill in Presence Concealment, Assassin, but the moment you used your energy to try to destroy the last jewel was your first mistake." Archer said with a disinterested, even bored, expression on his face. "Your second mistake was charging forward to try and attack me instead of retreating."

* * *

**A/N: Author's Note**: Well, that's the end of this chapter. As I told you, I would be mentioning those that managed to guess the identities of the Servants in chapter one. The person that got the most (five out of six) correct was **MrNeedsToRemoveAllFavs** while **DrTempo**, **Wrathkal**, **Grey Master of Ice and Muji, Deadzepplin, Sekishishi,**and** Kamen Rider Ebon **managed to guess a few Servant's identities.

Another well-deserved thanks goes to **The Infamous Man** who helped make this chapter better by beta-ing it. And even more to all of those people who reviewed and left their comments in the form of reviews last chapter.


	3. Heroes, Assemble:

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

* * *

Legend:

"Someone is talking."  
_'Someone is thinking.'  
_"A technique/Noble Phantasm is being used."

* * *

Heroes Assemble:

* * *

(Fuyuki City—Mackenzie Residence—Guest Bedroom)

"Assassin has been taken out!"

It had been a couple hours since Rider had informed him of her discovery of the murdering Master in the news. Despite how wrong the situation seemed, they both knew that they couldn't do anything about it. Neither of them had any clue as to the identity of the Master or what they looked like. Until they had a clue as to who this Master was, it would be foolish to go around looking for them.

Rider, who had been staring at the TV, turned and looked at Waver with a confused expression, "How could you know that, Master?"

"I sent a rat familiar out to scout the Tohsaka Family's manor." Waver admitted, having forgotten to tell Rider about it. "I thought that the head of the Tohsaka Family might have summoned a Servant and it seems that I was right; he summoned Archer."

"So... Archer took out Assassin? How did that happen?" Rider asked.

"I didn't get to see it that clearly but it looked like Assassin was caught trying to take out the Tohsaka Manor's Bounded Fields. Archer released multiple arrows in a single go and then continued to fire them out. Assassin dodged a couple of them but wasn't able to get away. Once an arrow got to him, it slowed him down until it was over..." Waver recalled before looking up towards the ceiling, "I can't believe that one of the seven Servants has been taken out so quick."

Rider smiled, "That _is_ good news, Master."

And, honestly, they needed some good news. Both of them were unhappy about not being able to much about that Master in the news. Patrolling the city would be a waste of time and simply draw another Master or Servants attention to them. In addition, they couldn't stop the murdering Master while in the act unless they knew where he was. So they would have to wait until the Master revealed themself or was defeated.

They could, at least, take solace in the fact that one of the seven Servants in this war had already bitten the dust. It was one less opponent to account for, anyway. And it would allow Rider to allow herself to relax about someone going after her Master, as Assassins were often to do. Still... even if Rider was relieved about the situation, something about it felt wrong to her.

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Shinto—Outside the Kotomine Church)

"My Servant has been lost. I have forfeited my rights as a Master, and cannot continue on in the Holy Grail War." Kirei said as he stood before his father, Risei Kotomine. "In accordance with the treaty I, Kotomine Kirei, ask the Holy Church to shelter and protect me."

"Your request is accepted. In my role as the mediator of the Fourth Holy Grail War I, Kotomine Risei, shall guarantee your safety." Risei told him before he motioned him to enter.

Kirei nodded his head before stepping into the church. It was a fairly simple church and, although the lighting was a bit dark, no one would suspect anything out of the ordinary. Especially that this specific church watched over a secret war between magus.

"Father…" Kirei began as Risei closed the doors. "Is anyone watching this church?"

"Of course not." Risei responded in a confident tone. "This place has been declared as a neutral sanctuary. The Holy Church will censure any Master who defies this decree." He began walking further into the church before waving towards a nondescript corner. "Assassin has also told me that he is monitoring the situation."

Kirei looked over and saw, in the shadowed corner, was Assassin. The Servant of the Shadows was in a meditative trance with his eyes closed and his hands clasped together. As Kirei watched, the unhealed injuries from Assassin's fight with Archer began to disappear as he healed himself. By the rate at which he was healing, Kirei judged that it would only take Assassin mere minutes before he was as good as new.

Considering what Archer's attack had reduced Assassin to, the speed at which Assassin had healed was extraordinary. If one were to combine that with Assassin's other skills, combined with the prowess of one of the Servants from the three knight classes, Archer, well...

_'We will see if father and Tokiomi's plan can succeed after all.'_ Kirei thought.

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Tohsaka Manor—Tokiomi's Study)

Tokiomi was overlooking his ruined courtyard with a pleased expression on his face. Before tonight, he had some doubts if his plan would work out, considering the unexpected Servants that he and young Kirei had summoned. Those fears turned out unfounded, however, as everything had gone perfectly. What was more was the fact that only a small part of his courtyard had been destroyed so it wouldn't take as long (or as much money) to fix it.

"I believe it was unwise to leave Assassin alive, Master."

Tokiomi turned to see Archer leaning against a nearby bookcase, reading a book. It was not an unusual sight as Archer spent most of his time reading, patching up old hole-ridden clothing or making new clothing with his expert sewing skills, or talking to him about magecraft. To think that a Heroic Spirit like Archer would do any of these things was odd, as he had no need for them, but strangely comforting to Tokiomi.

Perhaps it was because he had sent his family away for the duration of the Holy Grail War and, thus, had began to long some form of human companionship? It was a possible theory, but one that he put to the back of his mind. He would see his family once the Holy Grail War had ended and his wish had come true. Until then, he had to focus on making sure he and young Kirei played their parts and that their plan was successful.

"Why would you think that, Archer?" Tokiomi asked, sounding curious.

Archer looked up from his book, "Based on what I have observed from Assassin—his olive complexion, his light accent, and the language in which he speaks when using his Noble Phantasms—I have come to the belief that he is a Heroic Spirit hailing from Greece. I have researched much about Greek legends and myths to try and pinpoint who exactly he may be and I have come up with a list of possible candidates."

"From the tone of your voice, it sounds like you already suspect who Assassin could be." Tokiomi said.

"There are only a few figures of Greek legends that Assassin could possibly be: Nyx, Hades, Tartarus, Erebos. Of these we can eliminate more. Nyx was reportedly a female, Tartarus is sure to be considered more of the Protogenous of Nothingness by the populace and thus have abilities to match, and Erebos isn't that well-known which would have prevented him from ever becoming a Heroic Spirit."

"I see. You believe him Hades, Archer?" Tokiomi asked, amused. How could Archer not know? The information supplied to him from the Holy Grail, alongside all of the books he had been reading, should have provided him with the information... "There is only one problem: Hades is a Divine Spirits. Only Heroic Spirits can be as Servants."

Heroic Spirits were beings that had accomplished great achievements and, after their death, became the object of worship, lore, or history. As a result, they were placed outside the cycle of transmigration of the soul and ascended to the Throne of Heroes. Servants were but Heroic Spirits summoned down to serve in the Holy Grail War as a pseudo-familiar to the Magus that summoned them.

Divine Spirits, on the other hand, were the representation of perceivable natural phenomenon that had been worshipped by people as gods or goddesses. They were formed by the thoughts of people and born into this world without being influenced by the will of the people.

A slight widening of Archer's eyes and a tightening around the Servant of the Bows' lips were the only sign that he had been shocked by what Tokiomi told him. "I see..."

"It was a noble effort to try and research Assassin's identity on your own, Archer. It tells of your analytical abilities are and your ability to form theories based on the information presented to you. It is not your fault that you didn't have the knowledge about Divine Spirits." Tokiomi said in an effort to appease Archer after having torn the other's theory apart.

Archer was silent for a couple of moments. "Thank you, Master." The Servant of the Bow finally said before pushing his glasses up, "Still, even if my theory on Archer's identity was incorrect, he still shares many similarities with Hades. His hesitance in revealing his identity to us, his regenerative abilities, and his basic personality suggest that he is not someone to trust lightly. In the future, he could abuse our trust and betray us."

"You need not worry about that, Archer. Even if he is required to use his Command Spells, Kirei will make sure that Assassin follows our plan to the letter." Tokiomi said before he moved over to his desk where a glass of fine red wine sat. "Now, let us let this subject rest and try to enjoy ourselves."

"... Very well, Master."

XXXXXX

(Later—Fuyuki City—Hynatt Hotel)

One of the perks of being a Servant, in Lancer's opinion, was the fact that she didn't seem to require sleep. Sure, she still had the urge to go to sleep, but it was no longer necessary for her. So, while her "Master" and Sola-Ui had gone to bed, Lancer had gone to work.

"... Lancer?"

Lancer looked up from the dining room table she had commandeered for herself. Standing in the doorway was Sola-Ui, looking freshly showered, who was looking at her with a curious expression on her face. "Good morning, Sola-Ui."

"What are you doing?" Sola-Ui asked as she came over.

"I'm just looking through some maps on Fuyuki City and its typical weather conditions." Lancer answered with a shrug, as if it were no big deal. Sola-Ui's eyes widened at the variety of different maps, charts, and complicated-looking notes she would never understand. "... for the War."

"You must be very intelligent if you can do all of this, Lancer." Sola-Ui said, impressed.

Lancer grinned, "Anybody can understand these things if they have a good teacher, Sola-Ui." She paused for a moment, looking at Sola-Ui and her obvious fascination, and nodded to herself. Lancer gestured towards the nearby chair, "If you want to learn about it, I can teach you."

"Really?"

By the time Kayneth exited his bedroom, got ready for the day, and entered the kitchen, Sola-Ui was staring at Lancer like she was a celebrity. He backed up so that the two women wouldn't see them as he observed them. Lancer questioned his wife about how cumulus clouds formed and her answer seemed to pleased Lancer. This repeated until Sola-Ui couldn't answer one of Lancer's questions and was then given a basic explanation that made Sola-Ui's eyes widen with understanding.

Once he had enough, Kayneth entered the room. "As much as this little lesson must be fascinating, you have made a mess of my dining room table, Lancer. Nor have you prepared any of the food that I told you that I would be expecting last night."

"Lord Elloi-Moi—" Sola-Ui began.

Lancer raised a hand to cut her off, "It's okay, Sola-Ui." She stood up from the table and then pulled out a small bag from one of the pockets in her jeans. In an instant, everything that was on the table rose into the air and zoomed towards the open pouch. At the same time, still-steaming dishes flew out of the bag and onto the table. "Happy now, _Master_?"

"How did you do that?" Kayneth demanded to know.

Lancer frowned, "If you must know, _Master_, the you'll have to use a Command Spell." She crossed her arms and readjusted her stance, coming off as a rebellious teenager. "Or maybe, I don't know, be more polite towards me? That it, if you _can_."

"You dare—" Kayneth began.

Lancer's staff suddenly appearing in front of his face shut Kayneth up. "Yes. I "dare". You have been nothing but belittling to me since you summoned me. I will not stand for it! Either shape up or I will find a Master who _does_!"

With that threat, Lancer withdrew her staff and turned on her heel. Before Kayneth or Sola-Ui could stop her, Lancer's body broke apart as she assumed her spirit form. Kayneth glared at the spot where she had been for a couple of moments before he walked over to the dining table. He would punish his stubborn Servant when she returned.

"If you keep pushing it, you'll find yourself without a Servant, _Kayneth_." Sola-Ui spat before she got up from the table.

"Where do you think you're going?" Kayneth demanded, twisting around in his chair to look at his wife. "Sola-Ui?" His wife didn't hede his call and continued walking towards the door, causing him to get even more frustrated. "Answer me! I know you can hear me, Sola-Ui."

Sola-Ui turned around and actually glared at him, "If you must know, _Kayneth_, I am going out to find Lancer. Enjoy your _breakfast_."

XXXXXX

Kariya slowly woke up to the feeling of a plush, comfortable mattress. He could detect the faint, dissipating smell of cleaning products and a slight musk. He groaned lightly, confused, before he slowly opened his eyes. Where was he?

"You're awake, dude? Awesome!" Berserker's voice rang out before the green-skinned Servant came into view. "Dude, you were out for hours! I had to _carry_ you here and clean everything by _myself_!" Berserker crumbled in on himself, anime-like tears beginning to fall down his face. "So much... _cleaning_..."

"Berserker? I-I don't understand... Where are we?" Kariya asked.

"We're in your apartment, dude! Don't you recognize it?" Berserker gestured around the room and Kariya's eyes followed. He could barely recognize the recently scrubbed walls, his dusted furniture, and various other things he had stored here. It was all so _clean_. "... way I was staying in that alley! And you are sick, so it would've been bad for you to stay there as well, dude."

That was the truth. He hadn't really noticed it when he had been summoned, but Kariya was very sick. He walked with a slight limp, he seemed to have trouble seeing out of one eye, and he lost energy very quickly. It made him concerned that his Master wouldn't be able to handle it. The Holy Grail War was no place for such a sick man.

And yet... Here Kariya was. Despite probably knowing that it was suicide for him to go into the war, Kariya _had_. He was risking his fragile state of health, his life even, for a chance to get the Holy Grail. Why he needed it wasn't clear yet, but it was obvious that Kariya held that need above his own life.

"... How did you figure out where my apartment was? And how did you get in?" Kariya asked.

Berserker looked away, clasped his hands behind his back, and began rocking on his heels. "Well... after you went to sleep, I sortawentthroughyourclothesandfoundyourIDbefore," He said in a rush. "And then I looked at your address and—"

"Could you repeat that. And more slowly?" Kariya said.

"I, uh, looked... through your clothes and, um, found your ID?" Berserker muttered almost inaudibly, ears burning with embarrassment. Berserker's ears easily matched Kariya's widened eyes, but not the look of horror that began to appear on Kariya's face.

"You... You—You," Kariya muttered in shock, unable to find the words to respond. And how was he supposed to respond? Beserker had rifled through his clothes, while he was sleeping, and had practically stolen his ID before breaking into and bringing him into his apartment. "... I'm going back to sleep."

XXXXXX

Right now Saber could be found walking two separate crane stacks with her Master's wife, Irisviel von Einzbern, following behind her. They had just arrived in the city today and, after wandering around for a while, had went to the beach surrounding the river. Irisviel had been wetting her feet and enjoying the feeling of the river when Saber had detected the presence of a Servant. Following that presence had them both here, which was an obvious attempt for the other Servant to determine their battlefield.

Saber had to admit it was a smart move.

Finally, Saber stopped walking and then motioned for Irisviel to do the same. "I know that you are here, Servant." Saber said loudly, glaring at an empty space before herself. "Cease hiding like an Assassin and come out to face me!"

"I wasn't really hiding..." A calm, feminine voice stated as its owner walked into view.

Both Irisviel and Saber got to see that it was a woman with long, curly orange-colored hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a striped blue-white bikini, blue jeans, a strange bracelet, and a pair of comfortable white shoes. In her hand was a long, metal staff the color of the morning sky.

_'Could this be Lancer?'_ Irisviel wondered with a slight tilt of her head.

_'So _indecent_!' _Was the first thought that came to Saber's mind at the sight of the woman. She couldn't help but stare at the other woman's clothing—and lack of upper body covering—in horror. How could a female (Servant) go around looking that that? A male would be practically able to see everything about her.

"Are you just going to keep staring at me?" Lancer asked with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, you're presenting me with more than enough opportunity to strike you both down."

Saber schooled her features into a blank mask. Lancer was indeed correct. Her lapse could have led to Lancer lashing out at them, or Irisviel, before she had a chance to react. It was only Lancer's apparent chivalry that had stopped the other Servant from attacking. _'I will not make that mistake again.'_

In the next moment, she placed a hand over her covered chest. The black shirt and tie, jacket, pants, and shoes that she had been wearing vanished in a small shower of golden light and, in its place, came a blue battle dress covered with with silver armor.

Saber then reached onto her back and withdrew Excalibur, hidden from sight through her use of Invisible Air so that other Servants would not discover its unmistakable identity. "I thank you for reminding me, Lancer, but don't think doing such will be as easy as you make it seem."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Saber." Lancer said as she twirled her staff down so that the tip came to face Saber. Both Servants stared at each other for a moment before they rushed forward, Lancer's staff clashing against Saber's invisible sword amidst a shower of sparks.

XXXXXX

(Meanwhile—Fuyuki City—Mackenzie Residence)

"I'm going to be heading out with Rider!" Waver called out to "his" grandparents as he and Rider made their way towards the front door.

A couple minutes ago, Rider had startled a bit before informing him that she had sensed a massive build-up of prana. He had sent out a couple of mouse familiars to check things out and had struck figurative gold. Two Servants appeared to be fighting on one of the docks. What was more was that it appeared those two Servants were Saber and Lancer.

"Okay! Make sure to not stay out to long with your girlfriend, Waver-kun~!" Martha teased with a small grin, poking her head out of the kitchen where she had been preparing dinner.

At her statement, Waver's cheeks became darkened with a blush before an affronted expression appeared on his face. Rider merely looked back at Martha and then at her Master. _'Girlfriend?'_ She wondered.

"I told you guys that Rider was just a friend from school!" Waver said hotly, growing more upset when "his" grandmother laughed at him. "Fine! C'mon, Rider!" He turned on his heel and began walking towards the door, "We don't have to do deal with this!"

XXXXXX

(With Archer)

_'So, the first battle is about to begin?' _Archer thought.

After he had sensed the Servants near the docks, Tokiomi had ordered him there so that he would be able to discover more about the Servants fighting in this War. Their personalities, basic abilities, weaknesses, and, if they were lucky enough, their identities. In addition, if the Servants were weakened enough, he had been instructed take them out while he had the chance. It was a unnecessary order, really, as Archer had already planned on doing that.

As for staying in the shadows, Archer didn't really mind that either. It was good to strike from the shadows, sometimes, so one's enemy wouldn't realize that they was there. By the time the enemy figured it out, they would be dead. Just like—

_'No. Focus. You do not have time to think like that.'_ Archer thought to himself.

XXXXXX

Caster looked up as she felt the presence of a Servant. By doing this, she caught a sight of a figure in white jumping from building to building at inhuman speeds and smirked. She quickly finished draining her newest victim of its energy before she jumped off in pursuit of the other Servant.

_'I doubt that you'll be able to resist my melody of death, shit-head.'_ Caster thought. A memory of a black-haired boy in green clothing entered her mind and she snarled, wordlessly banishing it to the farthest corner of her mind. _'I'll kill you... And once I'm done with you and I win this war, I'll kill that little rat.'_

With all the Prana she had been able to stockpile within the last two days, that white-wearing pretty-boy wouldn't stand a chance. And if he so happened to lead her to the other Servants, well, she was more than a one-trick pony. She was a venomous, multi-headed snake out for revenge. Nothing was going to stop her.

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Docks)

Assassin sat on the edge of a crane overlooking Saber and Lancer's ongoing battle, but not looking at it. Instead, he was looking towards the direction where he could feel three other Servants coming from. _'So, everyone but Berserker is coming?'_

This was an amazing opportunity. With all the other Servants arriving here, he could learn of their skills and, possibly, their true identities. Another probability was him learning the identity of each Servant's Master, like he had Saber. If he could do that and learn of the Servants' true identities, this War would become far easier.

_'For now, though, I should just wait.'_ Assassin thought as he returned his attention back to the ground where Saber and Lancer were fighting. It was slightly disappointing that neither of them had used anything special. _'C'mon, just reveal something about yourselves already!'_

Sadly, as neither of them could see him due to his Presence Concealment, or hear him, his demand went unanswered. He drooped slightly and sighed, hand reaching over for the ring he was wearing. He almost twisted the skull but stopped himself. If he did that now, he would be alerting every Servant within range what he was doing and where he was.

_'Damn it', _Assassin thought as he forced his hands apart to resist the temptation. Spying on someone really wasn't his forte (even if he was a little good at it) and sitting still and watching something happen on was very difficult and made him stressed. With his normal way of relieving it gone, how was he supposed to relieve his stress?

* * *

**A/N: Author's Note:** Well, that's the end of _Heroes, Assemble. _Tell me how you guys liked it in your reviews and messages.


	4. Clash of the Titans:

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

* * *

Legend:

"Someone is talking."  
_'Someone is thinking.'  
_"A technique/Noble Phantasm is being used."

* * *

Clash of the Titans:

* * *

(Fuyuki City—Street Near the Mackenzie Residence)

"Are you ready, Master?" Rider asked.

Waver nodded, a touch nervous. Ever since he had summoned Rider, he had expected the Fourth Holy Grail War to begin at any time. It was only luck that had provided him with a few days to get to know his Servant a little better. Rider was capable even if her bubbly personality, seemingly obsession with expensive bathtubs, and usual outfit said otherwise.

Despite himself, Waver felt a little bit nervous. How would he and Rider do against the other Master and Servants? Did they have the strength to clash with the others? If they did have the strength, would they be able to win? While Waver wanted to believe that they would win, doubt niggled in the back of his mind.

Waver took a deep breath to steady himself. "I am. Let's go, Rider."

"Of course, Master." Rider said. Light covered Rider's form as she switched between her civilian clothes—a knee-length red dress with red slippers—that he had managed to get for her and into the outfit she had been summoned in. When it was done, she gave him a small smile before looking up towards the clouds above. "Strike Force!"

The darkened clouds parted by some unseen command as a light wind began to blow across the street where he and Rider stood. As the level of wind began to increase, Waver had to shield his eyes from the wind even as his hair and clothes were tugged and blown about. He heard the increasingly close roar of some form of engine and felt Rider put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Waver lifted his arms away from his face and turned to look at his Servant through tearing eyes. "Rider?"

"Our ride has arrived, Master." Rider said at the same time as something heavy landed on the street and the winds died down. Waver blinked his eyes a couple of times to clear his vision before turning his attention towards the mount that Rider had called upon. "I hope that it pleases you."

Rider's mount proved to be an old model of an aircraft, which would explain the loud roar he had heard coming from its engine. Looking closer, Waver was able to match up the vehicle with the knowledge of an aircraft he had read about. It was a North American P-51 Mustang, a USA bomber aircraft that had made its debut in WWII. Waver looked at Rider, thinking. Was Rider been a pilot from WWII turned into a Heroic Spirit?

"It'll do." Waver said. Despite reading about it, Waver couldn't remember that much about the aircraft itself besides that it was able to drop bombs. That would provide them an advantage in the air and, if used right, a good tool to use for surprise attacks...

"Great!" Rider grinned, "I'm glad you like it Master because you'll be driving it~!" Waver's eyes widened in horror. Drive an aircraft? But, but, he hadn't even learned how to drive a car! How was he supposed to drive a plan if he didn't know how to?! Rider didn't seem to hear his protests though as she pushed him closer and closer to the now-dreaded machine. "Don't worry, Master! You'll be fine!"

"Rider—" Waver tried.

Before Waver could finish, Rider picked him up before the propellers on her leg armor began to spin. He clutched onto her as they flew upwards, missing the look she directed at him. He almost sighed in relief when she dropped him into the cockpit of the P-51 Mustang. That was before the hatch closed over him and the seatbelts, that he would later swear were possessed, came to life and buckled him in.

"Take off!" Rider said.

Waver's eyes teared up when, following his obviously crazy Servant, the aircraft took off into the air. Once high enough into the air, Waver began to scream. The reason, one may ask. Whatever magic had been guiding the plane vanished and he was now at the wheel.

_'What had I done to deserve this?!'_

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Risley Work's Rooftop)

"Let me play for you... a Melody of Death." A haughty, feminine voice said from behind.

At the sound of the voice, Archer quickly moved forward and spun around to face whomever had spoken. He found the speaker to be a woman with long, untamed pink hair underneath a black hat, creamy white skin, and wild brown eyes. The woman was wearing a tan tunic, a rope-like purple belt, black pants, and black sandals.

_'An enemy Servant.'_ Archer thought as he materialized his bow.

"I never expected for you to be Archer, pretty-boy." The woman admitted with a smirk.

Archer, however, was in no mood to talk. This was displayed by the spirit arrow that pierced through the enemy Servant's stomach. Only, the arrow went through the woman as if she wasn't there while the woman's smirk bloomed into a wide grin. A moment later and she had vanished within a brief plume of white smoke.

_'What did she just do? My arrow passed through her body like it wasn't even there and then her body went up in smoke. It wasn't her dematerializing... so what could it have been?'_ Archer thought as he turned in place, eyes roving the area around him as he brought forth his sensing ability to the forefront in an effort to locate the woman. _'It has to be Caster. Whatever she did, it wasn't anything that anyone else but a Caster could do.'_

"So... You want to play, shit-head? Well, I'm game." The Servant's, Caster's, voice echoed impossibly from every direction around the Servant of the Bow. It was even more impossible as Archer had yet to detect any hint of the woman despite how close her voice sounded. "Mateki: Mugen Onsa (Demonic Flute: Phantom Sound Chains)."

Moments later, sounds that could only have come from a flute were heard by the Archer. Like Caster's voice, the notes came from every direction while the source of them was nothing he could locate. A sense of... something... pressed into him for a moment before, suddenly, the area around him shifted. Archer came to find himself standing in a barren desert covered in countless needle-like protrusions with a blood-red sky and a white moon.

_'What is—' _Archer began.

Black chains suddenly erupted from the sand and, faster than he could move, quickly clamped about both of his wrists and ankles before retreating into the sandy depths. The sudden action forced the Servant of the Bow to his knees. He pulled at his new restraints and found them stronger than he could break by himself. He then attempted to bring his reiryoku forward but was stopped as a haunting song began to play throughout the area.

And then, thirty feet away, appeared Caster, playing a flute. Archer ignored this, correctly assuming that this was one of Caster's mind-games, and tried to bring his reiryoku forward again. This time he was stopped as his fingers twitched before they began to melt. The feeling, alongside the pain of the action, caused him to start screaming as a red haze of pain consumed his mind.

'_Go ahead and scream.'_ Caster thought as she watched the Archer scream as the flesh melted off of his bones, '_You're just quickening your own defeat, shit-head.'_

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Docks)

Emiya Kiritsugu was currently spying on his Servant's fight behind the cover of the crates that littered the docks along with his assistant, Maiya Hisau. It was through her assistance that he had been resupplied with all of the weapons he had given her when he had been first hired by the Einzbern family. Those weapons would be vital in this war—allowing him and Maiya to eliminate enemy Masters from the shadows—while Irisviel drew attention away from them by acting as the Einzbern family's Master.

In the current engagement of Servants, Kiritsugu had noticed that Lancer was matching Saber's swordsmanship despite her ordinary build. That spoke quite a lot of the Servant of the Lance's abilities as Excalibur was invisible and thus made blocking or avoiding it much harder. In addition, she was doing all of this without any type or form of armor and had yet to be wounded.

Out of all of that, however, the most vexing was that neither he or Maiya could determine Lancer's identity.

Judging by Lancer's attire, she was comfortable fighting in this era's clothing. With this was the fact that Lancer possessed orange hair, brown eyes, and features similar to those of Asian descent. It should have been easy to match the information they had managed to gain on Lancer so far with a figure from myth or history... but nothing came to mind.

"Someone's put up a barrier…" Kiritsugu said as Maiya turned to look at him expectantly. "Probably Lancer's Master."

"From up there, we can survey the entire battlefield." Maiya told Kiritsugu while gesturing with her head towards the nearby crane.

"Indeed, that would be the best vantage point." Kiritsugu responded, "However from what we can gather from Archer's skills, should he arrive here, that would be the first place he would go to."

Another object of Kiritsugu's concerns was the Head of the Tohsaka family's Servant, Archer. From what Maiya's familiars had been able to record of his battle with Assassin, Archer wielded a bow looked to have been made out of pure energy. Furthermore, Archer was able to use energy to continuously create arrows. Archer's speed was such that Assassin, caught within a charge towards him, had been unable to survive.

Still, Assassin's death confused him. Why would Assassin, knowing that he was caught, rush towards Archer? Surely Assassin would've retreated. That action would've made sense, for Assassin could go back to the manor another night, when Archer had lowered his guard, to finish the job he had started. Instead, Assassin had rushed towards his death. It was highly unusual behavior that had niggled at the back of Kiritsugu's mind and made him doubt if Assassin was truly dead.

"You suspect Archer will arrive?" Maiya asked, while Kiritsugu gave her a grim smile.

"Saber was probably not the only Servant who sensed Lancer's 'challenge'." Kiritsugu said before he looked back at the ongoing battle. "You will approach from the eastern wharf and I will take the west so that we may survey the battle and the crane at the same time."

Maiya nodded her head and stated, "Understood."

As Maiya headed off to fulfill her duties, Kiritsugu smirked and said to himself, "Show me what you can do, my adorable King of Knights…"

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Docks—Saber vs. Lancer)

Saber bent low to the ground to avoid the bubble-tipped end of Lancer's sword before she swung her sword upward, intending to cut Lancer in half. Without any type of armor covering her, it would be all-too easy for Excalibur to injure Lancer. Lancer, however, nimbly dodged to the side before she began to pull her staff back towards her. Saber charged at Lancer and brought down Excalibur, only for Lancer to manage a two-handed block.

Sparks formed where the two weapons clashed. It become apparent, though, that Saber had the advantage as Excalibur was slowly pushing Lancer's staff downwards. The grimace on Lancer's face meant that she knew this as well.

Before Saber could completely break through Lancer's guard, Lancer suddenly retracted her weapon before jumping backwards. Excalibur crashed into the earth with a shower of freshly torn up earth which was then whipped around by the air enshrouding Excalibur. Sensing something approaching her, Saber ripped Excalibur free and raised it up into the air to block Lancer's staff.

"You're good for such a little girl, Saber." Lancer teased.

"Little?" Saber asked with a small frown.

Instead of getting a vocalized reply, Lancer jumped backwards and aimed her staff at Saber. Saber tensed and readied Excalibur, wondering at just what Lancer was playing at. _'Could it be...?' _She thought as Lancer closed her eyes as the clouds darkened above. _'Lancer's Nobel Phantasm?'_

"It's too bad that I'll have to hurt a child in this War." Lancer admitted, sounding sad as she opened her eyes. Her expression hardened as she looked at Saber, gripping her lance in a white-knuckled grip. "But, to win the Holy Grail, I have to do what I must."

Saber flinched. What Lancer had just said reminded her of how Irisviel talked about her real Master. How, to obtain the Holy Grail, he would do anything. It was a sore spot for her, as _she_ was supposed to be protecting her Master. Not allowing him to go running around, risking his life, when she could be helping him.

Now was not the time for such thoughts, though. Now that the clouds had darkened to indicate an incoming storm, Lancer was building up her energy. Saber readjusted her grip on Excalibur and began to run towards Lancer, intending to stop the Servant of the Lance before she could release her Noble Phantasm. It seemed this was what Lancer was waiting for because, right as Saber began her charge, she half-smiled.

"Gasuto Sōdo (Gust Sword)!" Lancer proclaimed once Saber was within ten feet of her. A bubble emerged from the end of her staff before it popped. This caused a blast of pressurized air escaped from it and swallow Saber within its whirlwind and carried the Servant of the Sword off with it.

_'She was waiting for me to try and stop her!'_ Saber thought to herself with a small grimace. While she had been hit with Lancer's attack, her high Magic Resistance had saved her from the brunt of the damage. Still, the attack had been powerful enough to both blow her back and leave scratches on both her armor and skin. _'I have to be careful of future attacks; who knows how powerful her Noble Phantasm truly is.'_

As Saber twisted in mid-air to prepare herself for landing, Lancer aimed her staff at where the blonde Servant was going to land. Saber landed in a crouch and skidded along the ground to avoid numerous red-colored, bubble-like spheres. As she avoided them, though, Saber noticed that were blurring the air around them. So, the bubbles were hot enough to create a distortion in the air?

_'Does Lancer think of me as a fool?'_ Saber asked as she jumped upwards and over the newest barrage of bubbles. Her eyes widened seconds later as Lancer appeared before her, bringing her staff down towards her head. She quickly raised Excalibur to block the sudden attack before frowning slightly a the effort it took. _'She's stronger than she was before.'_

As Lancer pushed them towards the ground, Lancer's mouth curled into a smile. "So you've noticed, hm?" She put more force into her weapon, slowly pushing Saber's hidden sword closer to the Servant of the Sword's chest with her Noble Phantasm-enhanced strength. Just when Saber was managing to push her backwards, Lancer suddenly pulled back. "As much as I would like to stay... Ta-ta."

Lancer vanished in a blur of speed. Moments later, Saber felt a heat coming from underneath her and turned her head enough to see that the ground had been packed with numerous of Lancer's fire-bubbles. At the rate at which she was falling, she would crash into the bubbles and experience if her Magic Resistance was enough to negate the damage they caused. That is, if she stayed on course.

Saber quickly twisted herself around to change the position where she would land. It still wouldn't be a pleasant landing, but it would be better than falling into Lancer's trap. The earth cratered underneath Saber as she impacted against it, only a few feet away from Lancer's blanket of bubbles. Saber got up again and earthen debris fell off of her to reveal nothing more than a small scratch on her cheek.

"You're good, Saber." Lancer admitted as she reappeared by a nearby metal crate. "Most of the people I know wouldn't have the skills necessary to make adjust themselves to avoid my trap after I sent them hurtling towards it. And they would've taken a lot more damage then you took from that fall."

Saber pulled Excalibur from the earth it had been plunged into and got into a ready position, "I doubt that you've ever faced a knight before, then, Lancer."

XXXXXX

(With Kiritsugu)

_'Lancer's abilities seem... interesting.' _Kiritsugu though as he stared through his scope down at the two fighting Servants. _'Able to create a burst of pressurized air, heated bubbles, and the calling of storm clouds into the area...' _His eyes narrowed. _'Could it be... that Lancer can control the weather?'_

That itself was frightening thought. If Lancer truly could control the weather, then she would have a variety of options which she could use to attack Saber and Irisviel. He could think of a few off the top of his head: calling down lightning bolts, creating a powerful gust of wind, creating a tornado, increasing the temperature, and various other options. It all depended on just what Lancer could do and what her strategy was.

Kiritsugu his attention to his wife, sighing when he saw her standing where Saber had told her to wait. He sighed in relief. He had been worried about his wife's closeness to the ongoing battle between Saber and Lancer. It was truly a stroke of luck that Lancer didn't seem the type to go after people who weren't actively fighting her. And yet...

_'Lancer said that she hated fighting children. Even so, she has chosen to fight against Saber, who looks like a child. Whatever wish she wants the Holy Grail to grant, it must be pretty big for her to throw away at least one of her ideals.'_ Kiritsugu thought.

"Kiritsugu. I've spotted movement on the crane." Maiya said, voice crackling as she communicated with him over their private comm. link.

Kiritsugu looked towards the crane and, through his scope, saw the figure of Assassin sitting on there. The Servant of the Shadows appeared to be watching the ongoing battle intently though with a dissatisfied, grumpy expression on his face. _'I knew it.' _He frowned and said, "It's Assassin."

"Assassin? But... Assassin should be dead." There was a pause as Maiya undoubtedly looked through her own scope towards Assassin. "... You're right. It is Assassin. But why would he be here?"

"That whole battle between Archer and Assassin was probably staged." Kiritsugu answered, having expected the question. "You keep a lock on Assassin and I'll continue looking for Lancer's Master. If Assassin even so much as twitches, tell me immediately."

XXXXXX

(Meanwhile—Caster vs. Archer)

All that Archer knew was pain. It was apt considering that the flesh was melting off his bones. He gained no reprieve from the pain or a chance to understand just how Caster was doing this. Could it have been Caster's Noble Phantasm? Something less? Something more?

In the midst of the pain, the parts of Archer's mind that hadn't succumbed to the pain were trying to figure out some way of escaping. He could not end like this. He still had so much to do—! These parts of his mind latched around the growing thought and grew until Archer consciously realized the thought. He focused on it with all of his remaining strength and slowly, ever so slowly, the pain was pushed from the forefront of his mind.

Archer was still aware of the pain, and how now most of his arms had been reduced to mere bones, but now he could finally _think_. And with that, he quickly raced through a mental list of options, trying to figure out a way he could get out of this situation.

Caster frowned. _'What's going on with the shit-head? He's stopped screaming.'_ Usually that would signal the destruction of the victim's mind, but it was too soon for that. There hadn't been enough time since the beginning of her illusion, so what was the issue? Had the shit-head gone comatose? Or... what?

"So... that's it, huh?" Archer muttered lowly. By using his ability to sense the presence of reishi molecules/reiryoku in the air, he had found that his brain was saturated with what he assumed to be Caster's energy. The Servant of Magic had been targeting his mind the whole time, trying to use the pain to break it.

Before Caster could do anything, Archer gathered and realized a pulse of his reiryoku from his body. It was similar enough to the Genjutsu Kai that Caster knew that it caused her illusion to shatter around them. It was then revealed to Archer that they were both on the rooftop they had been standing on before, in the same exact position before she had cast her illusion.

Caster frowned, "What was that you shit-head!?"

"It's Reiryoku. Something that such a foul-mouthed woman such as yourself would fail to comprehend even if I try to explain it to you." Archer responded coldly as he stood up. He quickly pulled the nearby reishi to materialize his bow in his hands before aiming it, and a newly-formed spirit arrow, at Caster. "Now, I suggest you run."

"So you can shoot me from behind with your puny arrows?" Caster scoffed as she prepared herself to move the moment she saw Archer move to release his first arrow, "Not a chance, shit-head!"

However, before Caster or Archer could do anything about the growing tension, something vaguely cylindrical dropped from the heavens. Both of the Servants' eyes widened as they recognized what it was; it was a _bomb_! Both of them quickly took off into separate directions as fast as they could. They had barely gotten out of range when the bomb hit the roof where they had been and exploded. The building groaned at the sudden attack even as the now-ruined roof started to cave in.

Seconds later, the building started to come down.

Archer and Caster turned their attention upwards and searched for the source of the sudden attack. The two Servants found it to be some kind of aircraft, belonging to the United States if their knowledge of the painted-on colors was correct, that was weaving around like a drunk was driving it. There could be only one conclusion.

"Rider." Archer observed with narrowed eyes at the same time as Caster, on neighboring building, spat the same name out.

XXXXXX

(With Waver and Rider)

"I can't believe I just did that!" Waver said, eyes wide.

He hadn't _meant_ to drop that bomb, honest! All he had wanted to do was find something to help him control this flying deathtrap... Or find an ejector seat button so he could get himself out before he crashed the horrible machine. He had thought he had found the later when he saw the red button and had pressed it. Instead of being ejected to safety, he had dropped a bomb.

"I'm going to be in so much trouble...!"

Rider's voice echoed out from a nearby speaker, "Well done, Master! I had no idea you had spotted those two Servants on the roof!"

Huh? Servants...? What was Rider talking about? He hadn't seen anyone on the roof... Let alone a Servant. Then again, he had only looked down at the roof after he had realized he had dropped a bomb and had heard it plummeting towards the earth, so he could be wrong. In Rider's defense, wasn't it her job to know when there were enemy Servants nearby?

"I, uh, yeah!" Waver laughed awkwardly, awkwardly managing to pull the plane higher into the air after he noticed that it was getting too close to the ground. "I, uh, saw them fighting and, uh, thought I could take them out?"

If he was listening to someone say what he was saying right now, he would've called them a liar and dug into them until their lies collapsed and they told the truth. Rider, though, seemed oblivious to his lies. Instead, she began to praise him for attempting to take out two Servants but warned him to leave it to her.

"After all, I am your Servant." Rider said. "There is no need to draw unneeded attention to yourself when it could be directed at me instead."

Waver didn't know whether to cry at his Servant's belief in him or to choke her for putting him in his deathtrap after he got out of it. He found the plane losing altitude... again!... and cursed as he tried to bring the plane up. While he did so, he edited his former thought: _if_ he got out of this plane, he'd either choke her or thank the lord for sparing his life.

* * *

**Omake**: Different Servant (Assassin):

* * *

At the moment, Kirei Kotomine was inside an abandoned warehouse, having just completed the ritual to summon his Servant, Assassin. Tokiomi had provided him with the mask of Hassan-i-Sabbah, or the "Old Man of the Mountain", as his catalyst to summon that particular Assassin.

The smoke finally cleared and allowed Kirei to look at his Servant. It was a girl with short, shoulder-length purple hair and purple eyes. She was dressed in a whit hoodie was blue sleeves, a striped white-orange skirt, white socks, and black sneakers. And, in her mouth, was a small lollipop.

Definitely not Hassan-i-Sabbah.

"I am Assassin but you can me Stalker, if you'd like." The Servant said, stressing the word "Stalker". She blinked, "That is... if you are my Master."

"Yes, I—!" Kirei began.

An instant later would find the self-proclaimed "Stalker" looking at a newly formed ice sculptor that was her former Master. She frowned, "I don't know who you are, but you are not my Master. Only Tsukune-san can claim to be _my_ Master."

After leaving the abandoned warehouse Stalker, formerly known as Mizore Shirayuki, went to win the Fourth Holy Grail War by herself... all for the sake of her one true Master, Tsukune Aono.

* * *

**A/N: Author's Note**: Well, that's the end of this chapter. Tell me what you guys thought about it: comments, ways that I could improve it, if the fights seem believable, etc.


	5. Clash of the Titans II:

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

* * *

Legend:

"Someone is talking."  
_'Someone is thinking.'  
_"A technique/Noble Phantasm is being used."

* * *

Clash of the Titans II:

* * *

(Fuyuki City—Docks—Saber vs. Lancer)

"Burakku Bōru: Raiun Roddo (Black Ball: Ranium Rod)." Lancer announced as a chain of small, dark-grey storm clouds emerged from her staff before she swung it at Saber.

The Servant of the Sword quickly jumped to the side, just managing to avoid the chain of cloud by a couple of inches. Her eyes kept track of the chain as it then hit a nearby crate, sparks dancing where the two items collided, before a movement of Lancer's arm caused it to swing towards her. Saber jumped back just moments before the whip-like chain cut through the area she had been standing.

_'Can Lancer truly control the weather?'_ Saber thought as she moved to dodge again. The thought had first appeared in her mind after Lancer had released her Noble Phantasm and created those strange bubbles, both hot, cold, and some even filled with bursts of lightning. At that time, she had just believed it was some strange way of controlling the elements, but now... _'If she can truly control the weather, why is she resorting to such small-scale attacks?'_

Despite the fact that Lancer seemed to be going all-out in this fight, Saber could tell that she was still holding back some. When Lancer managed to catch her off-guard, she always left some sort of opening for her to exploit and escape through. An apt example of this would be Lancer's heat-bubble trap: it would have been more effective if Lancer had the bubbles rise before she noticed them. It would have worked and yet...

Lancer hadn't done that. She had purposefully left Saber with an opening. But... why?

Saber's eyes narrowed as she remembered something that Lancer had said near the beginning of their fight against one another: "It's too bad that I'll have to hurt a child in this War."

Could it be that Lancer was purposefully holding back because she looked like a child? It would explain why Lancer was leaving those openings and showed that Lancer hadn't thrown away one of her ideals. It was a comforting thought and yet it infuriated Saber.

It was unacceptable, for her, that Lancer wasn't displaying her true skills.

Lancer swung her staff and the chain of clouds lashed out towards Saber. Saber jumped over the chain and towards Lancer even as she brought Excalibur over her head. If Lancer wasn't going to fight with her true strength willingly, then she would make her. Her honor as a knight demanded that she fought with her opponent at full strength.

"Stop holding back!" Saber ordered as she brought down Excalibur towards Lancer's head. Fortunately for Lancer, she had been able to dodge in time. Excalibur ripped into the earth before the winds surrounding the blade blew the debris away as well as knocking Lancer back. Saber was on Lancer before she could get up, stopping to point Excalibur at Lancer's throat. "... and fight me like an equal."

Lancer grimaced, "It was that obvious?"

The look in Saber's eyes answered the question enough. Lancer closed her eyes with a sigh before her body broke up into particles of golden light as she assumed her spirit form. Saber turned as she felt Lancer reappear behind her, grabbing the staff that had rolled from her grasp when she had been knocked back by Invisible Air's winds. As the Servant of the Lance held onto her weapon, the chain of dark-clouds detached before fading altogether.

_'What is she up to now?' _Saber thought.

"You wanted me to show my full power?" Lancer asked before looking up to face Saber with a determined look. "Fine, I'll show you. But only because you asked me to, Saber." She pointed her staff towards the stormy sky, "You'll be the first in this era to see the full extent of my Tenkō-jutsu (Art of Weather)."

Moments later a lightning bolt arced down from the clouds above and struck the tip of Lancer's staff. Despite the fact that the staff was made out of metal and should have been coursing with electricity now, Lancer's expression did not change or falter in the slightest. Saber nodded and grabbed Excalibur with both hands, preparing herself.

"I hope that you are ready, Saber". Lancer cautioned before she swung her staff down towards Saber, releasing a seemingly endless wave of white water-like clouds towards the Servant of the Sword. "Mirukī Rōdo (Milky Road)!"

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Docks—With Kiritsugu)

Having witnessed Lancer's near death experience and having seen Saber not finish the enemy Servant off left Kiritsugu with a frown on his face. _'Why didn't Saber kill Lancer while she had the chance?'_ Was his first thought, followed by: _'Is her sense of honor really that strong?' _

If that was true then he and Saber were even more different than he had originally believed. Kiritsugu had never cared if his enemies revealed their full strengths or not, what ages his targets were, or about their pasts. To him, all he had cared about was completing the mission he had been assigned. Saber, on the other hand, lived by a strict code of honor. This battle had proved that she would be unable to throw aside her ideals, which saddened him a bit.

"Kiritsugu. I have spotted an approaching aircraft." Maiya reported, snapping Kiritsugu from his thoughts before he listened to her speak through their private comm. link. "... From the look of it, the plane seems to be an American P-51 bomber but I could be mistaken._" _

Kiritsugu's eyes narrowed, _'So... Rider is coming?'_

There could be no other explanation than that. The American P-51 bomber had been retired after the end of WWII and, besides museums in the United States of America, wasn't seen around anymore. His mind began racing through what he knew of the planes and their pilots, trying to remember if there was one well-known enough to become a Heroic Spirit.

"Keep an eye on Assassin and make sure he doesn't move." Kiritsugu ordered after a brief moment of silence. "I'll try and get to a better position where I can take out Rider's vehicle while it's still in the air."

XXXXXX

(300 Feet in the Air—With Waver and Rider)

"We have arrived, Master."

Waver almost shed tears of joy. Despite the hellish time he had trying to steer this flying deathtrap, all of the almost-crashes and near-death experiences, he had somehow managed to keep the plane in the air. And while he may have accidentally dropped a bomb and collapsed a building, he probably also hit the two Servants that Rider had told him that were battling there. All in all, he was ready to get out of it, even if it meant walking into the middle of a battle between Servants.

That was, however, until Waver actually saw the battlefield. There appeared to swirling corkscrew of what appeared to be clouds which was so high that it looked to be piercing the sky. Below the corkscrew was an enormous 'sea' of white clouds that weaved in-between the metal containers and covered the docks. Waver could see two Servants fighting on the corkscrew.

Waver's first thought after seeing this was: _'How can they be standing on that if it's made of clouds?! Clouds can't support that much weight!' _His second, more miserable, thought was: _'What have I gotten myself into?'_

"I'll take care of this, Master." Rider said as she came into view just outside of the cockpit. "I'll advise you to fly the plane above the battlefield and, if you see an opening, attack."

Waver wanted to point out that only a divine miracle had allowed him to stay alive this long. Before he could, however, the propellers on Rider's leg armor sped up and she rocketed towards the two Servants. Why had Rider neglected to tell him that the propellers actually allowed her to fly? And just why had she made him ride this deathtrap, then? He would've preferred to ride on her back!

If they survived this, he was _so_ going to give her a long talking-to.

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Docks—Saber vs. Lancer)

"Prana Burst." By channeling her prana through her body and sword, Saber was gifted with a temporary boost in her abilities. She used her enhanced speed to weave around the massive orbs of lightning that Lancer was sending her way, making her way closer and closer to the Servant of the Lance.

Lancer quickly brought up her staff to dodge, a mistake. Prana Burst gave Saber a temporary boost in all of her abilities, including her strength. So when she used her staff to block the length of Saber's hidden blade, her arms buckled as her staff was unwillingly pushed further and further backwards due to Saber's strength. Lancer grit her teeth as Saber's momentum pushed them backwards, closer to the edge of the corkscrew she had created with a variation of sea-clouds. _'She's strong!'_

"Do you think so lowly of me now, Lancer?" Saber asked.

"I knew that you were strong before, but now..." Lancer shook her head, "I can't underestimate you anymore, Saber." A lightning bolt burst through the clouds ahead of them and hit them as they moved past it. Neither of them felt it overly much (due to Saber's Magic Resistance and her immunity to her own attacks) but it provided Lancer with an opportunity when Saber's attack faltered for a brief second. "Sandā (Thunder)!"

Lancer redirected the lightning so that it ran down the length of her staff, providing for a small counter to the winds surrounding Saber's weapon. The Servant of the Lance took advantage of not having to put so much into blocking Saber by then angling it so that Saber's sword slid down her staff before jerking it away the moment she made to move. Saber stopped quickly and then spun around to see one of Lancer's lightning orbs zooming towards her face.

"You think—" Saber began as she easily side-stepped the attack.

Saber was cut off as she caught sight of the large white egg that had been hiding in the shadow of the lightning orb. She had only a moment to widen her eyes over Lancer's tactic before the egg suddenly burst open and unleashed an enormous thundercloud.

"Now, Lightning-chan!" Lancer said as the thundercloud crackled with electricity, bringing down her staff once more. A massive, concentrated bolt of lightning emerged from the clouds to strike down at Saber, "Sandā Burīdo Tenpo (Thunder Breed Tempo)!"

There was no chance to dodge. Lancer's attack had come together so quickly that even Saber's Prana Burst-enhanced speed could not allow her to escape. She could be seen with a look of shock on her face before the lightning consumed the area she was in, temporarily blinding Lancer with its bright white light. The Servant of the Lance shielded her eyes from it and waited as it began to die down while wondering if her attack had been successful.

It was good that Lancer was alert and ready for any unexpected tricks as when the light started to fade, a faint whistling could be heard. Lancer turned and then backpedaled to avoid a large bullet of energy that had been aimed at her head. The attack destroyed the part of the cloud she had been standing on alongside burning a ring around the new hole. And there, holding a smoking rifle with her hands on a trigger, was another Servant.

The Servant in question was a woman with long, auburn-colored hair, blue eyes, and pale white skin. She was wearing a tan-colored blazer with an olive-green tie, though, instead of shoes her legs were encased in what looked like the front of some strange leg armor with propellers sticking out near the bottom, allowing her to fly. What was even stranger, however, were the white bunny ears sticking out of her hair and the white tail sticking out from her backside.

In addition to this new Servant, Lancer was able to catch sight of Saber as she walked out from where she had been attacked. Small areas of her armor looked to have been burned while the dress underneath had been reduced to ash in some places. Her skin was pockmarked with several smaller burns and slightly frazzled-looking hair, but that was about it.

'_Just how high is her Magical Resistance?'_ Lancer thought. While others had survived her Sandā Burīdo Tenpo, they had been at least more damaged than Saber currently was. Stupid resistance to high-level attacks just because the Holy Grail deigned her science-based techniques "magical". Honestly, it was just a bit of chemistry, not magic!

By this point, Saber had also spotted the newcomer. "Another one?!" The Servant of the Sword all-but hissed, suddenly furious. Why did this new Servant have to be like Lancer and be a beautiful, if scantily clad, orange-haired woman? Absently, she ran a gloved hand over her chest and tried to suppress a sudden surge of jealousy. _'I'm fine just the way I am.'_ She reassured herself.

"What's her problem?" Rider asked Lancer, acting as if she hadn't just tried to take advantage of the situation and eliminate her fellow orange-haired Servant. "I didn't do anything to her, so why did she get angry when she saw me?"

Lancer shrugged and decided to take advantage of the momentary reprieve. "I don't think she likes the way we dress." She looked at Saber, "It could also be the fact that we are both adults while she is still a child waiting to enter womanhood." A small pause. "Maybe even both of those things."

Rider turned to Saber with an expression that made the Servant of the Sword want to claw her eyes out. "Oh! I'm sorry if we're upsetting you, Saber! But, really, you shouldn't be ashamed of yourself just because you've yet to enter into womanhood."

"I am an _adult_!" Saber growled as she angrily tightened her grip on Excalibur before pointing the invisible blade towards the two other Servants, "I'm angry because you two shame yourselves by wearing such indecent clothing!"

"Of course you are." Lancer and Rider chorused.

"What do you think you are doing, Lancer?" Kayneth demanded of the Servant of the Lance, projecting his voice so that the unruly woman could hear him. "I thought I ordered you to fight Saber: not chat around with her and another enemy Servant!"

As Rider and Sabers' eyes narrowed at the sound of the voice, Lancer's expression morphed into a scowl. What was Kayneth thinking? Couldn't he see that she had been fighting Saber until that other Servant appeared? And what made him believe that he had any authority over her?

_'So, that's Lancer's Master...'_ Saber thought as her body tensed, eyes scanning the area around herself for any trace of him. She was sure, though, to keep an eye on Lancer. One could only guess when would decide to obey her Master's thinly veiled order to attack

"Fine." Lancer said, sounding miffed. "I'll do it." At this, Saber and the unnamed Servant tensed up. Saber gripped her annoyingly hidden sword tighter while the other Servant materialized into her hands. Lancer pointed her staff down at them. "Sandā Boruto (Thunder Volts)."

Lightning bolt after lightning bolt escaped from the edge of Lancer's staff and raced towards the two other Servants. The speed of them was faster than either Servant had seen before. While they managed to dodge the lightning bolts, they were unprepared for the lightning bolts to twist around and begin following them. What were those things: heat-seeking missiles?!

XXXXXX

(With Kiritsugu)

_'Just _who_ is Lancer?' _Kiritsugu thought as he continued to watch the ongoing battle,

Surely, he would've remembered reading up on a person like Lancer. With the abilities that Lancer was currently displaying, it should've been impossible for him not to have. Of those abilities that Lancer had displayed so far were heat manipulation, wind manipulation, lightning manipulation, and cloud manipulation. Her cloud manipulation, though, was truly impressive.

With just one swing of her staff, Lancer had unleashed a flood of strangely liquid-like clouds. If it wasn't for Saber getting Irisiviel out of there in time, those clouds would've swallowed her up. Even though they were clouds, he had no intention of testing to see what happened if someone fell into them. Not if it cost him Irisiviel.

_'I should've ordered Saber to take Lancer out when I had the chance...'_ Kiritsugu thought. It seemed that now that Lancer's Master had decided to speak up that Lancer had decided to stop playing around. And with the addition of another Servant, Rider if he was correct, this battle had just turned into a free-for-all. _'And with Saber busy...'_

Despite knowing Maiya was watching Assassin, he couldn't help but look through his scope at the Servant of the Shadows. At the sight of the Servant, he didn't know if he should frown or try and figure out why Assassin was doing what he was doing. Why Assassin, who had been so focused on the battle, was now _sleeping_.

_'Could it be a ruse?'_ Kiritsugu wondered.

XXXXXX

"That's one huge-ass cloud." Caster commented to herself as she watched as Lancer, Rider, and Saber began to fight each other. It would've been problematic for her to be seen so she was using the Meisaigakure no Jutsu to blend in with the surrounding metal crates.

Caster had originally come this way, chasing the fucker that had practically dropped a bomb on her but now... After seeing the battlefield and what was happening on it... All Caster could do was stare at the tower of clouds and the three Servants that were fighting on it. "Heh. Lancer's kicking their asses."

Honestly, if she was in those other two Servant's place, Caster would've retreated. What sane person would continue to go up against a Servant who was using their Noble Phantasm? She certainly wouldn't. Honestly, if they knew they were outclassed then they should run. Or, at the very least, bring out their own Noble Phantasms to even out the playing field.

_'So what's it going to be? Retreat, run away, or fight fire with fire?'_ Caster wondered as she settled herself down to watch. She would still get her revenge on the shit-head when she found him (and then Rider for dropping a fucking bomb on them)... but this battle could prove to be very entertaining.

XXXXXX

Archer narrowed his eyes at the sight of how Lancer's Noble Phantasm had changed the surrounding environment as well as the various techniques that she was using against Rider and Saber in her ongoing battle against them. "She can manipulate the weather?

It was more of a statement then it was a question of what he was perceiving with his eyes. After all, only an idiot would question whether Lancer's Noble Phantasm allowed her control of the weather after seeing this battlefield. She had practically brought down the heavens. What intrigued him more, though, was the fact that the other two Servants had yet to release their own Noble Phantasms.

There was no need for them to do that. Despite having to constantly dodge and evade Lancer's attacks, or counter them with their own, they were somehow keeping up with Lancer. In addition, it was obvious that having such skilled opponents was making Lancer's attacks all the more ineffective, as she had to constantly focus on them, lest she be caught unaware by their own attacks.

_'I was ordered to attack if I spotted a weakness I could exploit.'_ Archer thought as he manifested his bow into his hands. He quickly nocked back an arrow and took aim. It was unfortunate, for Lancer, that she wasn't wearing any type of armor to protect herself. Oh well. At least it would make her elimination from this war much easier. "Licht Regen (Light Rain)."

XXXXXX

(A Few Minutes Later—Lancer vs. Saber vs. Rider)

Crouched on one of the lower rings of Lancer's building-sized corkscrew of somehow-solid cloud was Saber. She was panting lightly with a few beads of sweat coming down from her forehead. Lancer's Sandā Boruto was a truly unique, and powerful, attack that had been very difficult to dodge. In fact, when the Sandā Bortuto coming after she had twisted around, she had been in mid-air. It was only her high Magical Resistance that had saved her from becoming barbequed.

As it was, she had gained five additional burn marks on her armor from Lancer's onslaught of lightning-based attacks. She was fortunate, though, that Lancer was also fighting Rider as well as her. It forced Lancer to have to spilt her attention between the two of them, giving her moments, like now, were she could rest up.

Rider didn't seem to need that. She was flying around Lancer's cloud structure at a rapid speed, pursued by several dozen of the homing missile-like Sandā Boruto. What was impressive was that Rider was doing this while flying backwards, aiming her rifle to fire off bullets of condensed prana that formed miniature explosions when they collided with Lancer's attacks.

Lancer suddenly started to scream.

Saber looked up to where Lancer stood two "rings" above her before her eyes widened in shock. While she had believed that Rider had finally managed to get Lancer with one of her prana bullets, it was not to be true. Lancer's body was being bombarded with an immeasurable number of white-blue arrows almost too fast for the eye to see. It looked as if Lancer had tried to deflect or dodge the arrows but it hadn't been enough and now the arrows were beginning to pierce through her body.

There could only be one Servant responsible. '_Archer.' _

XXXXXX

"Archer." Kayneth spat the name out.

Why had the Head of the Tohsaka family's Servant have to turn up at a time like this and chose to attack his Servant? Lancer was just beginning to turn the tide of her battle against Rider and Saber. With Archer's interference, he would be lucky if he could get Lancer out of there before Archer's arrows killed her like they had Assassin.

Kayneth could not allow that to happen. Even if Lancer was an extremely disrespectful, and smart-mouthed, woman... she was still his ticket to winning the Holy Grail War and attaining the wish promised by the Holy Grail. His Command Spells began to glow with a dark red light as he prepared to issue his first order.

"By the power of the three Command Spells, I Kayneth Archibald Elloi-Moi, command the Servant Lancer—" Kayneth began.

"—DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!" Lancer shouted.

XXXXXX

It was absolute agony.

One moment, Lancer had been drawing Rider closer into the area where she had prepared a trap that she had used to kill a dragon with. In the next moment, she became the victim of a sudden, seemingly unending barrage of arrows that came from nowhere. At the first sight of them she had been too surprised to react before she tried to get away, deflect the arrows, or create a shield.

No such luck. The arrows had quickly changed course to follow her, were too fast for her to deflect all of them, and didn't give her enough time to create a shield. Pain then consumed her and she heard someone scream, herself screaming, as the arrows tore into her flesh like an angry hive of bees.

And then she had heard her Master begin to use his first Command Spell. Even in her situation, it was easy to figure out his intent. He was going to use his Command Spell to recall her so that Archer's attack wouldn't kill her. Logically, it was a sound choice, but... Lancer had grown tired of running. She had grown tired of things being too rough for her and having to have someone save her.

That was why she had trained and fought so hard in life. So that she wouldn't have to run away. So that she could fight her own battles. To prove to herself and the others that she could stand with them and help them defeat their enemies. So...

_'I will not run away. I will not retreat.'_ Lancer thought as she forced her body into a standing position despite her wounds and the constant barrage of arrows, roaring to the world. "DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!"

The clouds underneath her feet shifted and twisted before lurching up and forming a solid wall in front of her. Lancer panted behind the shield before she looked down at the arrows still embedded in her gut. Despite how it looked, this was nothing compared to what she had gone through. Not even close.

Lancer rose to her feet shakily and gripped her staff so tightly that her knuckles turned white. She was no longer that scared little girl _that man_ had taken advantage of. Nor was she the weakest of the nakama her captain had built. She was _more_ than that.

"Kumo no satsujin (Cloud's Murder)!"

The building-sized cloud structure she had created groaned as Lancer used her Clima-Tact to bend it to her will. Everything beyond what she was standing on (and using to protect herself) suddenly started to condense into one-foot long bullets. Once she had enough of them, she began to unleash them towards where she assumed Archer was.

The sky filled with small explosions whenever her prana-infused clouds hit something, the prana within them detonating as soon as they made contact. It was enough to destroy many of the metal crates in the area and cause the debris to go flying into the air before it was destroyed as well.

Finally, Lancer was able to spy a white-clad figure floating of the smoke on some sort of platform made out of the same energy that the figure, Archer's, arrows were made out of.

Both of their eyes locked for a single second. In the next second, Archer pulled back and then began to fire another endless barrage of arrows at her while Lancer simply fired her cloud-bullets to intercept and break through the wall of arrows. Whenever the two attacks met in mid-air, they caused enormous explosions that managed to shake the air itself.

XXXXXXX

(With Waver)

_'This is getting ridiculous!' _Waver screamed to himself as he pulled at the handles of the deathtrap he was in, and thus the plane, up into the air again.

For the last few minutes, he had been circling around the battlefield while looking for an opening, as Lancer had told him he hadn't expected, however, was that this involved dodging _lightning bolts_. Especially demented _heat-seeking_ missile-like lightning bolts! It was clever flying that had saved him from becoming "Fried Waver in a Can"... with Rider, after she had destroyed her lightning bolts, destroying his.

Now, though, he was desperately wishing for a return of those lightning bolts. The reason one may ask? Well, the sky had suddenly turned into a virtual war-zone. Explosions were happening all around him as cloud-shaped bullets and blue-white arrows met in mid-air. The deathtrap he was in had taken some hits already and everything on the control panel seemed to be screaming at him.

It need not be said how difficult these explosions made his flying even worse than it was before.

Another explosion hit the deathtrap and, suddenly, Waver lost all control of it. Waver threw his hands on the control panel as the plane began to head downwards, tears streaming down from his face as cursed himself for ever allowing Rider to put him in here. _'I should've made her carry me...'_

Just when Waver thought that all was lost, a dark shape landed on the nose of the plane. His eyes widened at the familiar sight of Rider before a slightly hopeful expression formed on his face. Rider would know what to do! That hope, and confidence in his Servant, died when she ripped off the windshield. What felt like a tornado rushed into the plane, slapped him in the face, and suddenly made breathing and seeing things very difficult.

"Rider..." Waver managed to choke out.

Rider needed no other words. She quickly came into the falling deathtrap of a plane and unbuckled him from the pilot's seat before she grabbed him over her shoulder like he was a sack of potatoes. "Hold on tight, Master."

Waver didn't get a chance to respond as, in the next second, Rider flew them out of the broken window. Waver clutched onto Rider as much as his hands would allow him, clenched his eyes as tight as possible, and screamed. Oh, god, this was worse than driving the deathtrap!

"Exhilarating, isn't it Master?" Rider asked him with a happy grin on her face.

XXXXXX

Lancer almost didn't see the plane barreling down on her until it was too late. What alerted her to the fact was the smell of something burning and an unfamiliar whine. She looked up to see what was causing that sound and smell. It was then she saw the enormous, pilot-less, plane of Rider's flying down towards her.

"Holy shit!"

Not wanting to become flattened, or die, Lancer knew she had to dodge. She spared one last heated glance with Archer before she used the clouds underneath her like a springboard. The cloud was destroyed as Rider's plane crashed into it, slowing it down slightly and denting the front of it but she was already over a dozen feet away. That wasn't all of it, however, as Archer's arrows impacted against the side of the plane and managed to pierce through the fuel tank.

Lancer had barely managed to land on top of a nearby metal container before the plane erupted into an enormous, fiery explosion. The concussive wave caused by that explosion knocked Lancer off of her feet and made her slide dangerously close to falling off. She dug her nails into the metal to hold on, dropping down the metal crate beneath her when the sounds of the explosion finally stopped.

Lancer's sea of, well, Sea Clouds dispersed as Lancer stopped using and sealed her Noble Phantasm. While she still had plenty of prana left in which to power it with, she would need that energy so that she could start healing herself. She took stock of the various bloody wounds across her body, seeing bones in a couple of places.

So, it seemed that the damage she had received from Archer's initial barrage of arrows was greater than she had realized. _'Damnit. I'll need to heal myself before I go back out there...'_ Lancer thought as she began the process of using the prana available to her to heal herself. '_Otherwise either one of those three will make short work of me.'_

While Lancer recovered, Saber jumped down from a metal container with Irisiviel in her arms. After Lancer had begun to collapse her strange building-sized solid cloud to use as prana-filled ammo against Archer, she and Rider had spilt up. Rider had gone towards the plane flying in the sky while she had gone to Irisiviel and bring her to a safer location.

Finding it on the now cloud-free ground, Saber put Irisiviel down and got into a protective stance. The reason why soon became apparent as Rider and a black-haired teenager that the Servant of the Mount was carrying, which Saber assumed was Rider's Master, landed on the ground.

Lancer shivered involuntarily.

"So, Waver Velvet, you've finally decided to show your face." Kayneth's amplified voice practically sneered. Despite herself, Saber was a little impressed with Lancer's missing Master. How had he managed to avoid all of those explosions and still remain hidden? "... The same Waver Velvet whom stole my catalyst."

Waver's eyes widened in horror, "N-No..." Rider glanced towards him, concerned, but Waver was too busy looking around the area for where his former teacher could be hiding. "I-It... It can't be him!"

"I wonder what _madness_ possessed you to steal my relic, Velvet. It must have been something fierce if you would be crazy enough to enter yourself, using my relic, into this Holy Grail War..." Kayneth mocked from the shadows.

At this point, Waver had moved to hide himself behind Rider. He didn't know where his former teacher was hiding, but Kayneth knew where he was. It was obvious from the hatred and utter contempt in his voice that Kayneth remembered his theft of the man's catalyst and was still angry about it.

"How would you like it if I _privately_ schooled you Waver?" Kayneth asked, causing Waver to break out in a cold sweat. "The lesson will be how Mages really kill one another. I will teach you all the pain and fear involved—"

"I don't know what supposed "relic' that you're talking about..." Rider began, slowly, as her eyes scanned around for Kayneth. "But... Even if his theft of it was dishonorable at the time... I'm glad that my Master stole it from you! Unlike Saber's Master and my Master, who stand out in the open and stand to fight with us if they are needed, you have been hiding in the shadows like a coward and made Lancer fight your battles _for_ you!"

Waver stared at Rider's back in shock. He had thought that, now that the truth of how he had become a Master was revealed, that Rider would've turned against him. His Servant had proven him wrong by instead standing up to Kayneth while praising something that he really didn't have a choice in (considering all that happened with the plane...) He quickly blinked a couple of times to fight back the tears that were threatening to leak out of his eyes, _'Rider...'_

"You know nothing of me, girl." Kayneth snapped. "You know... I might have been fortunate in not getting such an idealistic Servant as you. "

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Somewhere Near the Docks)

"I found Archer." Berserker reported as he landed on the ground, morphing back from his hawk form into his normal form. "The dude is on one of the metal crates near where all of the other Servants were battling it out."

"Good. I want you to take him out as quickly as you can, Berserker." Kariya said as he remembered what he had managed to see of Archer's battle against Assassin. And then of the short battle he had witnessed between Archer and Lancer. "If Archer gets a chance to counterattack..."

Berserker held up a gloved hand to stop Kariya from continuing before flashing the white-haired man a grin, "Don't worry, dude. Archer won't see me coming."

With that said, Berserker turned away from Kariya. Within moments his body began to shudder before he suddenly morphed into hundreds of long and thin green-colored snakes. These snakes quickly separated into all directions, moving towards the location of the nearest Servant their now blank, rage-filled minds could detect.

_'Once Berserker and I take care of your Servant,_ Tokiomi...' Kariya said as he leaned back against the wall behind him, lone eye narrowed in raging hatred. '_We will come for _you_.' _

XXXXXX

(With Archer)

Just when he had gotten a good aim on Rider's Master and was about to fire, Archer sensed something coming from behind. He turned around only to see hundreds of thin, green snakes erupted from the area around him. Each of their mouths were opened, revealing their sharp teeth that shined with a dark venom.

_'Another Servant?' _Archer thought as he quickly jumped backwards. "Licht Regen (Light Rain)!"

Archer began to release arrow after arrow towards the green serpents coming towards him at a rapid speed. It didn't matter the number of the snakes, nor how fast they were. Each and every one of the snakes within his range of vision were pierced through the mouth, head, or neck with his arrows.

Once he had killed the last of the snakes, Archer stopped firing and began to look around. Besides the various dead and half-alive snakes lying around him, no one was there. He was also unable to detect anyone nearby that could've been responsible for the sudden attack.

_'So, how...?' _Archer thought.

"RRRRRRAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

The metal container broke underneath him as something large and green broke through it. In the next moment, Archer could the walls of what appeared to be a mouth. Before he could jump outside and escape, the teeth snapped shut and an enormous tongue slammed him to the side of the mouth. The blow made him dizzy and, for a moment, he lost concentration. His bow vanished.

XXXXXX

"Lancer, I order you to—" Kayneth began to say, indignant and wanting to use his Servant to punish Rider for the way she had spoken against him. As a Servant, she had no right to interfere in matters between Masters. And if her Master couldn't stand up and take his "lesson", then he really had no place in this War. Like he ever had, the little thief.

"RRRRRRAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

Every eye in the nearby area widened at the sound of that monstrous roar which was then accompanied by the sounds of multiple metal crates being crushed. Looking towards the source of the noise, the found that the one responsible for the roar was a giant green earthworm emerging from the broken remains of countless metal crates.

Irisiviel paled. Saber tensed, eyes narrowing before she tightened her grip on Excalibur. Waver's eyes bugged out and a small "Holy Shit" escaped from his mouth. Rider brought out her rifle and aimed it at the green creature and told Waver to stay behind her. Lancer grimaced but still readied her staff, preparing for what she thought to be the next battle.

In the shadows, both Kiritsugu and Maiya's eyes widened. Kayneth swore. Assassin snored. And Caster... Caster began to laugh her ass off.

* * *

**Servant:** Lancer.

**Identity:** Nami.

**Series:** One Piece.

**Theme Song: "**Let it rock" by Kevin Rudolf.

**Additional Classes: **Aside from the Lancer class, Nami can also be summoned into the Caster class due to the weather "magic" that she is capable of using. Don't let her hear you say that what she does is magic, though, or she'll tear you a new one. As she says is that her "magic" is "simply chemistry."

**Stats:**

**Strength:** C.

**Endurance:** B.

**Agility: **A.

**Magic: **B (+).

**Luck:** B.

**Personal Skills:**

**Battle Continuation: **The strength of vitality for predicaments. Also, the ability to withdraw from combat and reach allied territory alive after being defeated. In life, Lancer suffered through many depilating injuries while in battle and managed to continue on fighting until the battle was over. B.

**Charisma:** The natural talent to command an army. Increases the ability of allies during group battles. In life, Lancer was able to smooth-talk herself through dangerous situations and even managed to sway (as much as she was able to) the captain of her crew. C+.

**Discernment of the Poor: **The insight to see through the opponent's character and attribute. In life, Lancer's village was attacked and she was forced to join a pirate crew to make maps and then try to make enough money to pay for her village's freedom. C.

**Golden Rule:** Measures one's fortune to acquire wealth. Lancer knows nothing about financial ruin. If she had it her way, she wouldn't spend any money bar that of necessities and, even then, she would only be using the money of others to get those necessities. A.

**Noble Phantasms: **

1. Tenkō-jutsu (Art of Weather): A Noble Phantasm based on the fighting style that Lancer has developed which allows her to manipulate the weather of her surroundings through the use of her Clima-Tact. Combined with her extensive knowledge of oceanography and weather systems, it can be used to devastating effects. Anti-Unit. B+.

2. Dorobō no pōchi (Thief's Pouch): A Noble Phantasm that was created from Lancer's reputation as a thief. It allows her to steal nearby objects and store them within her pouch, regardless of shape or size. It was noted that Lancer can only use this on objects that she can see. C.

* * *

**A/N: Author's Note: **Whelp, that's the end of this chapter. But, what will happen to poor Archer? What will happen to the rest of the Servants and Masters who are still on the dock? Will they be able to survive Berserker's rage? Will Assassin ever _wake_ up?


	6. Why is this Worm so Tough?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

* * *

Legend:

"Someone is talking."  
_'Someone is thinking.'  
_"A technique/Noble Phantasm is being used."

* * *

Why is this Worm So Tough?

* * *

(Fuyuki City—Docks)

"W-What the hell is that thing?!"

Waver's somewhat high-pitched, trembling voice could be excused due to the current circumstances. What person who had just heard a massive roar, seen metal crates be dug and broken through as if they were mere earth, and then have a giant green earthworm roar at them wouldn't feel scared?

Of course the creature wasn't a simple earthworm, but a Mandorian Deathworm. If any of the present Servants or Masters had read up on cryptology, they would know of it and how much damage they could cause. Alas, none of them had read up or could remember anything about cryptology, so they couldn't know. It was too bad. That information could have greatly helped them...

Saber looked at the creature with narrowed eyes, _'Only a Servant would be capable of summoning such a monstrous creature. With Assassin dead, the only two Servants left are Berserker and Caster.'_ She tightened her grip around Excalibur's handle as the "earthworm" roared again and destroyed another crate as it slowly began to crawl out of the hole it had come out of. _'Of those two, it seems more likely that Caster summoned it and sent it here.'_

Berserker finished crawling out of the hole it had come out of and ignored the metal debris that had pierced through its flesh. Such things were unimportant in the face of its need to feed and the presences of food it could smell nearby. It sniffed the air to make sure the food hadn't moved, and it hadn't, before moving its "head" towards the food and issued a challenging roar. "RRRAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHH!"

"Irisiviel, stay behind me!" Saber ordered the white-haired woman as she prepared herself for battle.

Rider drew her rifle and aimed it at the creature, "You as well, Master."

In the next moment, Berserker lunged towards the group. It cried out in pain as it was hit in the side by Lancer's Sandā Burīdo Tenpo and crashed into a nearby pile crates, flattening them as it fell. Despite how blackened the wound was, and how they could see the flesh underneath its skin, the attack wasn't enough. What was worse was that the wound slowly heal itself over.

"Now, attack it while it's distracted!" Lancer called out from the top of a nearby, undestroyed, pile of crates. She didn't wait for any of the others to respond before she brought her two hand-gripped staff down towards the ground. "Mirukī Rōdo (Milky Road)!"

A "road" of sea-like clouds erupted from the ends of Lancer's staff and went towards Berserker as it tried to get up. The force was enough to knock Berserker backwards before, trying to roar, it choked on the watery clouds that poured into its mouth. Its situation was made worse when a lightning bolt zoomed into its opened mouth and impacted against the back of its throat, blackening and heavily wounding the area before it began to heal.

While this was happening, both Rider and Saber looked at one another before giving slight nods. Right now was not the time to be fighting each other as they had bigger problems to deal with. Once again, they warned their Masters to stay behind them and to stay safe. Moments later they jumped into action—Saber jumping onto a path of solid clouds that Lancer created while Rider flew above.

So, when Berserker had recovered from Lancer's attacks, it was met with a combined volley of lightning bolts and prana bullets. Crying out, Berserker reared back its head and attempted to dive into the ground, away from the food that was hurting it, only to be silenced as Saber cut into its "throat" with Excalibur. Falling back onto Lancer's road, the Servant of the Sword sidestepped to avoid getting her or her clothes stained with the beast's dark-green blood.

Once its throat had healed enough, Berserker issued another roar at the food hurting it. "RRAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" Moments later, its wounds began to bubble slightly. The bubbles quickly popped, releasing hundreds of thinner and much, much smaller versions of itself towards the three female Servants.

"What the—?!" Rider exclaimed, eyes widened in horrified alarm. She was cut short as over thirty of the smaller worms dive-bombed her from above, mouths clamping onto whatever surface of her body that they could find with surprisingly last teeth. Within seconds of biting her, the worms quickly wrapping around her body and she began to lose altitude and start falling. "Get off of me!"

Being on Lancer's Mirukī Rōdo, Saber had a bit more time to react to Berserker's counterattack than Rider had. She jumped to the left as the worms crashed into the spot she had been moments before. She then quickly used used Prana Burst to cut into the snake-like worms, one swipe of Excalibur cutting them in half before Invisible Air blew them away.

"Sandā Boruto (Thunder Volts)!" Lancer announced as she unleashed a _wave_ of lightning bolts towards the worms rushing her. The attack electrocuted and easily killed off the first batch before Lancer repeated her move, sending half towards the worms and then diverting some towards Rider after quickly noticing her predicament. When the lightning bolts hit the Servant of the Mount, the worms were fried to a crisp, freeing Rider as the burnt corpses fell off of her. "Move it, Rider!"

XXXXXX

At the moment, Kariya could be found laying on his hands and knees as blood started to trail down the sides of his mouth. Already, there was a small puddle of blood and a small number of burnt-out Crest Worms on the ground, a testament to how much prana that his Servant was using.

"What is... Berserker... doing?" Kariya demanded to no one as he coughed out, staining the ground with another small splatter of blood and dead Crest Worms. "I just... told him to... deal with... Tokiomi's Servant... Not engage the... others...!"

Why had Berserker ignored his orders? While he usually displayed an easygoing and joking attitude, he usually followed all of his directions without that much of a fuss. So, why? Why was Berserker deliberately ignoring him?

Sure, from what he was able to gather, Berserker was holding strong against the assault of three Servants, but... Where did Berserker think all of that prana he was using came from? He was supplying it or rather the Crest Worms inside of him was supplying it by eating at his body and causing him unimaginable pain... "You better... know what you're doing,... Berserker!"

XXXXXX

(With Kiritsugu)

Kiritsugu could be found looking through the scope of his sniper rifle at the giant green worm that had, apparently, _eaten_ Archer and was now attacking Rider, Saber, and Lancer. _'Neither Maiya or I have the firepower to take out that thing now.'_ He thought, somewhat concerned.

When he and Maiya had arrived at the docks, the plan had been to try and find out where Lancer's Master was hiding and eliminate him/her from the shadows. Assassin's arrival and subsequent revelation that he was still alive had complicated matters as he had to direct Maiya to watch the Servant of the Shadows. Then Rider had emerged from the woodwork with her Master, followed by Archer, and now what he assumed to be some sort of creature that Caster had summoned.

Oh, he had been able to find Lancer's Master, hiding behind a barrier he had set up, but he lacked the necessary to pierce through that barrier. And he now lacked the equipment to do anything but watch as Saber, Lancer, and Rider fought on against Caster's monster.

For once, Kiritsugu felt a little overwhelmed. If he could, he would have called Maiya back and retreated to a safer location so that he could regroup and plan what to do about the situation with her. One thing was stopping him, though: Irisiviel. He couldn't leave his wife to deal with that monster. Nor could his conscious mind stand the thought of allowing this monster to go on a rampage.

"Kiritsugu." Maiya called over their comm. link, "What do you need me to do?"

Kiritsugu took in a deep breath, racking his mind for an answer to his current dilemma. "Continue your watch over Assassin. I'm going to get closer to try and get within range of the creature. If I can shoot after one of those Servants injure it..." He swallowed bitterly. "... it might give one of them an opportunity to take it down."

"Understood."

XXXXXX

(With Assassin)

Assassin's eyes snapped open when he felt something impact his perch before the crane he was on began to fall apart. He saw that he was amongst much other metal debris as it fell down towards the ground. Despite this, though, he was able to catch sight of a giant worm-like creature fighting what he knew to be three female Servants.

_'I knew that I shouldn't have taken a nap...'_ Assassin thought with a sigh.

When Assassin was only mere inches from the ground, a shadow as wide as a kitchen table opened and swallowed him. In the next moment, he fell, upwards, out of a nearby shadow before gravity took control over him once again. He landed in a crouch, creating a small shadow construct to protect himself from the debris still falling around him. That was where he was able to get his second look at the current battlefield.

Saber, Lancer, and another orange-haired Servant were currently doing battle with the giant green worm. Lancer was unleashing a seemingly endless barrage of lightning bolts from her staff that slammed into and pushed back the worm. Saber was standing on a ring of... clouds... and was jumping upward to deal powerful blows with her invisible sword all over the worm's side. The last Servant was flying around, unleashing hundreds of what appeared to be bullets made out of prana onto the worm's back.

"... How in the name of Hades did all of _this_ happen when I was asleep?"

XXXXXX

(Saber, Lancer, and Rider vs. Berserker)

"Strike Force!"

As the speed and force of the wind increased due to Rider's words, the Servant of the Mount reflected on her Noble Phantasm. One of the main benefits of it, aside from flying and dropping bombs, was that she could resummon her mount even if it had been destroyed so long as she had enough prana. While she was getting a bit exhausted due to all of the prana bullets she was shooting, she still had enough prana to use her Noble Phantasms.

Rider looked up to see her American P-51 Mustang coming down, "Lancer, Saber... Pull back!"

The two other Servants looked at her like she was crazy before reluctantly moving backwards after they had eliminated the newest batch of worms. They were in time as, moments, later Berserker heard a whistling noise and turned its "head" upwards. It sensed something coming towards it and, to defend itself, it began to launch its worms at the plane instead of at its food.

"Not this time, you bastard!" Lancer shouted as she unleashed a barrage of Sandā Boruto up to intercept the airborne worms. She would be damned before she allowed the giant earthworm to take down the plane (and avoid the damage that Rider's incoming mount would cause it).

Ten feet before the worms would impact against the plane, Lancer's Sandā Boruto hit and electrocuted and burnt their bodies into cinders. Rider's plane smashed through the cloud of cinders and burning worm bodies and continued on towards Berserker, the wind starting to get louder as it gained more and more momentum. The group of Masters and Servants could only watch with baited breath, waiting.

Berserker, infuriated, roared towards the incoming noise and unleashed another volley of worms towards it. Unlike last time, Lancer didn't interfere as Rider's plane simply smashed through the horde of worms and continued on. The Servant of Madness attempted to move now, instinctively knowing that something was wrong, but was too slow. Still, even as the American P-51 Mustang crashed into it, Berserker roared until it could roar no more.

The impact of the plane took a large chunk out of Berserker's head and caused the remainder of its body to be pushed back by the plane. It fell upon and broke several more containers through its sheer weight which were then slowly tainted by the dark-green blood as it flowed over the broken debris.

"Is it over?" Rider asked after she had flown down to rejoin Lancer and Saber, "Is it finally dead?"

Neither Servant answered her, preferring to continue watching the downed creature. After seeing it regenerate from the wounds that they had inflicted on it, none of them actually knew if it would get up. They certainly hoped not, but all of them were used to dealing with people that wouldn't just stay down.

"RRRAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

Rider sighed and lifted her rifle again while Saber gripped her invisible sword with both of her hands. It was just as they had all secretly feared: the giant worm wasn't going to be defeated that easily. Saber went to ask Lancer if she could create another road of solid clouds (as it had proved very helpful when dealing with this creature) only to see that Lancer was no longer there.

_'Where did you go, Lancer?'_ Saber thought.

XXXXXX

Lancer _had_ wanted to stay and help Rider and Saber finish that damnable worm off. It had become increasingly obvious in their battle against it that, even with their combined strength, they were only just able to match the creature. Without her their to help distract and injure the worm, it would be able to spilt its attention better and send more of its seemingly endless number of small clones at an increasingly tired Saber and Rider.

Even if they had both proved themselves powerful Servants, everyone had limits. Against a foe such as that worm... Lancer felt like that she had just signed off on Saber and Rider's death warrants.

What could she do, though? The matter had been taken out of her hands. Her Master had moved when the worm had first appeared near his hiding space and then settled into another location before recreating the barrier that protected him, unseen due to the attention given to the worm. But as their battle against the worm had intensified, his new hiding place had become dangerous. And when he couldn't take it anymore, he had used one of his three Command Spells to order her to get him to safety.

Unlike a regular order, an order enforced by a Command Spell could not be resisted if one didn't have a high enough Magical Resistance. And she did not... so she could not resist her Master's order. So, she had saved her "Master" from becoming a pancake underneath the worm. Even though she would've preferred to leave the scum there to die.

Lancer had originally believed that Kayneth was just a scorned man who was angry over the theft of something precious to him. Now, though, she had a different opinion. It was obvious to her now that her Master was cruel-hearted and only cared about himself. If something displeased or angered at him, he would lash out at them, or try to make somebody else do it for him. Just like he had been about to order her to attack Rider's Master before the worm had appeared.

Based on the interaction she had witnessed between her Master and Rider's Master, Lancer found herself understanding and emphasizing with Rider's Master, Waver Velvet. He was a young man who had been ridiculed and humiliated by Kayneth. He had probably stolen the relic to get back at her Master and to prove that he wasn't what her Master that he was. That he was worth something.

It also uncomfortably reminded of her of when she was a little girl and Arlong had taken over her village and forced her into his service. Except, in her place was Waver and in Arlong's place was Kayneth. And, instead of allowing himself to be bullied, Waver had struck back against his tormentor.

XXXXXX

(Meanwhile)

Once again, a vile mixture of blood and dead worms splattered against the ground as Kariya coughed. The white-haired man's face was covered in sweat and his chin was covered in drying blood, body shaking and screaming at him as the Crest Worms continued their work. If he was in pain earlier, then he was now feel pure unadulterated agony.

_'Oh, gods_...' What had Berserker gotten them into? And why wasn't the Servant answering any of his calls? It was so unlike the normally talkative Servant to not respond. So, why... Could it be... the Mad Enhancement? The ability to increase of the basic parameters that a Servant possessed at the cost of becoming a mindless, rampaging beast. It was possible... No, it was more than possible.

"I... I have to call him..." Kariya choked out as fresh blood began to fall from his mouth, "... I... I can't stand... much more... of this..."

XXXXXX

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself hanging above a pit of foul-smelling, bubbling stomach acid by his bound wrists. He looked around in mild confusion and then upwards to see that his wrists were being bound by what looked like hundreds of green worms.

_'Where am I..?'_ Archer wondered. Small snippets of memories from before he had blacked out came to the forefront of his brain. He had retreated after his attack on Lancer and had been moving to eliminate Rider's Master with a well-placed arrow. Snakes, no worms, had burst from the area underneath him... he killed them with his arrows... and had then got himself eaten by a giant worm before blacking out.

And now _this_.

Still, Archer knew that the situation could have been worse than it was. The worm could have digested him instead of having him suspended by snakes inside its... stomach?... or have had lowered him into the acid as it sensed him waking up.

Gathering his reiryoku, the Servant of the Bow then unleashed it from his body in a pulse-like fashion, like he had done to break through Caster's illusion. The pulse caused the worms holding him to loosen their hold on him for a moment. Archer took advantage of that moment by slipping his arms free and materialized a platform he then landed on. The worms roared to life but were too slow as he had already materialized his bow and knocked back an arrow.

_'Now comes the hard part...'_ Archer thought as he began firing at the monstrosities.

XXXXXX

(Saber and Rider vs. Berserker)

"This is truly a fearsome beast." Saber admitted to herself.

For the past few minutes, she and Rider had been doing everything within their power to kill, if not just _stop_, the worm. It was proving ineffective, however, as the beast simply regenerated whatever wounds they were able to inflict upon him. There was also the issue of dealing with the ending number of worms that the worm could release from its healing wounds, making the situation even more difficult.

Now, both she and Rider were sporting a noticeable number of injuries on their tiring bodies. Still, the Servant of the Sword was faring a little better than the Servant of the Mount was. Her wounds were slowly healing, unlike Rider's own wounds. So, she couldn't complain about that.

It would have been simple enough for Saber to use Excalibur on the worm and end it there, but she had no idea if the worm would be able to regenerate from an attack like that. If the worm could, then she would've wasted a noticeable portion of her prana whole also revealing her identity as King Arthur for naught. And _that_ was not something that she was willing to do.

Not so early into the Holy Grail War, where the other Masters and Servants could come up with a strategy to best her by using the information on her identity against her. So, unless she had no choice but to use it, she would not reveal Excalibur to the world.

All of these thoughts crossed Saber's mind as she recovered her energy while Rider provided a distraction. She moved to join the battle once more and distract the worm so that Rider could take a breather, too, but stopped when the worm let out a horrifying shriek.

In an instant, the two Servants pulled back from the worm and watched it. The worm was still screeching in pain but now it's was starting to thrash around. It didn't seem to care for the crates that it continued to break or that neither Rider or Saber were hurting it anymore.

What was happening to the beast?

Moments later, the two Servants got their answer. A saw-like blade emerged from the hide near the belly of the beast. The blade cut a door-shaped hole in the hide which was then pushed over before a green, blood-covered man holding the blade emerged from the creature. The man, who they would later recognize as Archer, glanced at them for a moment, shook his head, and vanished from sight.

_"By the power of the three Command Spells... I order you to calm down...stop... fighting ,and... return to me..." _Kariya called through the mental bond he shared with the Servant of Madness._ "... Berserker..."_

Berserker roared at the order even as it unwillingly complied with its Master's order. As it did so, it shifted out of its Mandorin Deathworm form and back into his normal, human form. His face twisted in pain as he became aware of his injuries, slapping down a gloved hand on the slowly-healing gapping wound over his stomach. He then gave Rider and Saber a weak grin, raising another gloved hand into the air.

"Until... the next time we meet, ladies." Berserker said.

Then, before either Saber or Rider could question who the green-skinned teen was, or stop him, he transformed into his spirit form. This left both of the remaining Servants staring at the spot where he had been standing moments ago, bewildered.

"What just happened?" Rider wondered.

Saber would've answered but she, too, was at a loss.

XXXXXX

"_Dude_..." Berserker complained as he slowly assumed his normal form, clutching at his still-healing wound. "Why'd you call me back? I was rocking the Mad Monster mode!" He placed a finger to his chin, still not glancing down at where he could feel his Master. "Although, I would've preferred not to fight three girls... especially that Rider girl. She was _beautiful_~"

"..." If Kariya hadn't been unconscious, he would've face-palmed and lamented why he had been given a Servant like Berserker. Alas, he was knocked out, safe from the revelations he would've had, had he been awake to make them.

"Dude?" Berserker, having snapped himself out of his own thoughts, finally looked down at his Master. At the sight of Kariya, his green eyes widened in horrified shock, "Dude! Okay, okay, don't worry! I'll get you to the hospital as soon as I can! Just hold on until then dude, okay?

Berserker then quickly, but gently, picked up Kariya as if he were a bride. It was made harder and a tad more difficult than it should have been (considering his healing injuries), but Berserker didn't care about or notice that. As he ran, all he could care about was getting his Master, his friend, some medical attention as soon as possible.

* * *

**A/N: Author's Note**: Well, that's the end of this chapter. Tell me what you guys thought about it in your reviews, private messages, and so forth. Comments, constructive criticism, and ways you guys think would improve the chapter (or future chapters) will be welcomed. Flames will not.


	7. Aftermath:

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

* * *

Legend:

"Someone is talking."  
_'Someone is thinking.'  
_"A technique/Noble Phantasm is being used."

* * *

Aftermath:

* * *

After that giant worm had been cut open by Archer and transformed back into its human form, the remaining people at the docks had decided that they had enough fighting for one night and spilt up. Caster waited until she could no longer detect their presences before she too had left, thinking.

The Servant of Magic had chosen not to intervene in the battle when that worm, Berserker, had shown up and ate Archer. She may have been a former elite, but she didn't have enough firepower to directly take on a Boss Summon-sized creature that could regenerate and create miniature versions of itself to attack with. Even if she had gone out to take out one of the Servants or the Masters, then the worm could have turned its attention on her and decided to attack.

No fucking thank you.

Still, the night wasn't a total loss. She had managed to learn a lot about her fellow Servants.

Saber was an expert swordsman, possessed the ability to temporarily boost her natural abilities, had an unusually high Magical Resistance, and fought with a sword rendered invisible due to what Caster thought was wind combined with an illusion. Not to mention that, in the entirety of the battle, she had never once unleashed one of her Noble Phantasms. All in all, she was not someone that Caster wanted to mess with at full-strength.

Rider was a woman whose mount appeared to be an old version of the aircraft the Holy Grail had provided her information on. She was capable of summoning multiple planes from the sky (either to ride in or attack with) and an expert markswoman with her prana bullet-firing rifle. In addition with her ability to fly by herself as if she was one of those rock-headed assholes, she was someone that Caster would need to ground before fighting.

Lancer fought decently enough with her staff, had adequate stats, and possessed a remarkable strength of character. When combined with her Noble Phantasm, it made her a devastating opponent. Caster was sure that she would be able to defeat Lancer if it came to it (as the Servant of the Lance seemed unused to fighting multiple skilled opponents at once) but it could be challenging.

Archer was able to call upon some strange energy that felt more like the mental/spiritual component that made up chakra than anything else. With that energy, he could create a bow, a seemingly unlimited number of arrows, pulse it to break through one of her Genjutsu, and use it to increase his speed. If Caster could catch him within a stronger illusion for just a moment, she could use her summons to kill him before he managed to break out.

Berserker was the oddball out of the group. Not only did he appear to have the ability to transform into a giant Boss Summon-sized worm, he had an amazing healing ability and the ability to create miniature duplicates of himself to attack others with. If it wasn't for how he had become a mindless beast (and been called back by his Master) he could have probably have slowly managed to wear out Rider and Saber and eventually kill them.

The best part of this? The other Servants and Masters had no fucking idea she had been there to learn all of that! They wouldn't know that, even as they were recovering and making their own plans, she was thinking of various ways in which she could handle them one-on-one or in small groups.

_'And they won't find out either...' _Caster thought as she looked around her so-called Master's apartment.

The place had been a mess when she first had her Master bring her to it (not to mention giving off one of the labs' vibes with all the blood) but, after some cleaning up, it had turned out decent enough. It would still need a bit more touching up, but enough to suit her current purpose.

Now that the Fourth Holy Grail War had truly begun and the first battle had ended, they would regroup before wandering out in an effort to locate and find out where the others were hiding. With the dock fight, they would be focusing on those that they knew were there or the "mystery Servant" Berserker. That would leave her with the chance to watch them tear each other apart and strike at her weakened foes when the time was right.

At the thought of the other Masters, Caster's mind inevitably wandered over to the subject of her Master. She turned her head slightly to see her Master in the newly-cleaned kitchen, busy preparing her dinner with the groceries that he had gotten today.

After she had put him to sleep, Caster had used a Genjutsu that Orochimaru-sama had personally taught her to suppress her Master's personality and create another personality. It was perfect for creating sleeper agents and, thus, infiltration purposes... In this case, it was to give her Master a whole new perspective: as opposed to the attention-seeking serial murdering manic he had been before, he was now a submissive servant that existed to do her bidding.

The irony of the situation was not last on her.

"Master." Uryuu began as he walked out of the kitchen, stopping to bow in front of her. "Your dinner is ready."

Caster looked at him, "I hope its fucking better than the last time."

Later, after they had finished dinner, and Caster had grown tired of plotting, she left the apartment. It was time to hunt. After all, her Master had no prana in which to sustain her existence with. And while she had stockpiled a lot of the energy in the last few days, she didn't want to accidentally run out during a future battle. After all, this was a fucking _war_.

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Hynatt Hotel)

Having just arrived back at her Master's hotel room, Lancer ungraciously dropped the man onto the floor. Then, before her Master could think of complaining about it, the Servant of the Lancer pointed her Clima-Tact at his throat.

"Give me one good reason that I shouldn't do it, _Master_." Lancer hissed.

Kayneth paled at the threat before, slowly, sweat began to form along his forehead. "W-What do you think you're doing, Lancer?!"

"I'm planning to remove one more asshole from the world. I heard how you threatened to "teach" that Velvet kid, _Master_..." Lancer answered with a faint sneer before she pressed the Clima-Tact against the skin of his throat, "So, tell me, why shouldn't I remove someone like you from this world?"

"The little ingrate deserves it! Instead of accepting his place like he should have, he had the audacity to write a term paper that tried to prove that a new Magus from an ordinary family could match a Magus from an old Magus family in terms of strength and skill!" Kayneth responded angrily. "Do you have any idea what would happen if that mad idea spreads through the Clock Tower?!"

At the moment, the Magus Association and Clock Tower favored Magus that had been born into the old Magus families. In the Clock Tower, those Magus were given free room and board, special tutoring, and other privileges while new Magus had to pay for everything themselves.

"If that kid's idea spreads throughout that Clock Tower of yours, then the new Magus' would come to the belief that they were equal with that of a Magus from an old Magus family. It would serve as the fuel in which they would gain strength, pushing themselves to become better and prove the old Magus families wrong." Lancer answered coldly. "It would shake things up, make you and all of those Magus from the old families try to keep up."

While Lancer originally didn't have any knowledge relating to the Magus Association and Clock Tower, Sola-Ui had told her about it. What she had just told her Master was a theory that she had been able to put together based on what her Master had just revealed to her.

Kayneth's cheeks burned as he glared up at his Servant. "How dare you! Those weaklings will never be able to match the power held by the older Magus families!"

"Is that any wonder when the Clock Tower is filled with bigoted people just like _you_?" Lancer responded with narrowed eyes, digging the Clima-Tact into her Master's throat to prevent him from snapping at her or giving any other vocal response. "Bullying, sniveling little cowards who have other people do their work _for_ them? Arrogant brats who think themselves above others due to which family they were born into?"

The attitude reminded Lancer of the Nobles from where she had come from. And that wasn't even _mentioning_ the World Nobles.

"Lancer..." Sola-Ui said, entering the room. "You shouldn't do that. As long as Lord Elloi-Moi has your Command Spells, killing him would make you disappear as well."

Lancer looked at Sola-Ui an then back at Kayneth. Finally, she retracted her staff, allowing Kayneth to take in several deep breaths. "As much as I hate to admit it... You're right, Sola-Ui. He still does have two Command Spells..." She began to walk away, towards the bathroom, but paused. "I still think that you would've made a much better Master, though..."

_'I'm beginning to see that.'_ Sola-Ui thought as she watched Lancer enter the bathroom. Unlike Kayneth, she actually got along with Lancer. They didn't threaten or yell at each other. _'And at least I wouldn't have hidden like a coward or wasted a Command Spell...'_

"Why you—!" Kayneth began to yell after Lancer.

"Don't." Sola-Ui interrupted in a cold voice, looking down at the man who called himself her fiancé. "You can't afford to waste another Command Spell this early in the War." SolaHe whirled around angrily to face her only to meet her cold brown eyes. "Yelling at me won't fix anything either, Lord Ellioi-Moi. Unlike Lancer, I don't actively require you to sustain me."

XXXXXX

()

"Sir! You can't leave now! You're not well! _Sir_!"

Kariya—clad in a standard hospital gown—vowed that he was going to give Berserker a stern talking-to afer he escaped. He had warned Berserker that he couldn't go to a hospital, even if he was sick. With today's technology, they would quickly find out about the worms and take samples of them while thinking of ways to remove them. And, while that appealed to him, he knew it would be too late for him after the War ended.

"Sir! I insist! Come back!" A blonde nurse called out.

Kariya didn't once look back. Instead, he rushed towards the nearby window and, before anyone could stop him, jumped through it. A shower of glass fell around him, with a few fragments biting into his skin and making him bleed, but he was already on he move.

The nurse that had been chasing him gasped, recovering herself enough to shout at him to come back before he had disappeared from view. "Sir! If you continue on without getting any treatment, you'll die! You need medical attention!"

If he didn't fulfill his side of the bargain, then Sakura-chan would continue to suffer. He had known the risks of what he was doing before he had submitted himself to training under Zouken and allowing his body to be infused with Crest Worms... All in all, Kariya simply didn't care. To him, dying would be preferable than to allow Sakura-chan to stay apart of his horrible family and "train" under Zouken.

(Fuyuki City—Mackenzie Household)

"You were really brave out there, Master." Rider said.

Waver looked up from his lap with a confused expression. "'Brave'? Rider... I didn't do anything 'brave'." His hands twisted into fists before he averted his gaze to his lap, ashamed of himself. "I just hid behind you and, when... Kayneth... started to threaten me, all I could do was start shaking like a terrified kid. I was not brave, I was a _coward_."

"No, you aren't." Rider stated firmly. Waver glanced up at the tone and became shocked to see how serious his Servant currently looked as she stared at him. "Master, you managed to control and direct my mount without any previous knowledge of how to pilot it." She smiled at his incredulous look, "What. Do you think that I wouldn't notice, Master?"

That in itself was a ridiculous thought. Despite preferring to fly under her own power, Rider had been trained to and had managed to become an expert pilot of many different aircrafts. For her not to notice a plane not flying correctly, she would have to be blind and deaf.

Waver hesitated, "Why... Why am I so _important_ to you?"

"Why wouldn't you be, Master?" Rider asked as she turned back to look at him, looking confused. "You are my Master and I am your Servant. It is my mission to protect you and make sure that you will be safe, no matter may happen to me." Her eyes softened, "More than that though... you are a good person, Master."

Waver shook his head but didn't respond.

"Is this about that horrible man that insulted you?" Rider asked, sensing that something was still troubling her Master. "His purpose there was to intimidate you and shake your resolve. But you do not need to allow his words to affect you. You are better than him."

XXXXXX

(Tohsaka Manor—Tokiomi's Study)

"_What?_" Came Tokiomi's sharp whisper.

When he had sent out Archer out towards the docks, Tokiomi had believed that his Servant would be capable of fulfilling his orders. So much that he had decided to not keep an eye on Archer through the link he shared with the Servant. What a foolish, naïve decision that seemed now.

Archer had not been able to eliminate Saber, Lancer, or Rider and had almost been _eaten_ by the beast that Berserker had become. The Servant of the Bow had also been unable to get a full grasp of the other Servants' skills and personalities and had been only to tell him basic things he had observed about them.

"I will not perform so inadequately in the future." Archer said as he stood, back-straight in front of his Master's desk. He had expected for his Master to be angry and was willing to face any punishment that his Master had in store for him.

Tokiomi massaged his temples before releasing a massive breath. He couldn't be too mad at Archer. After all, even with what had happened, the Servant had been able to learn that Caster was a high-level illusionist during the Servant of Magic's attack. Archer had also learned more than the other Masters would know about Berserker as well as the small amount of information that he had been able to gather on Lancer, Rider, and Saber.

In addition, if Archer was to blame than he needed be blamed as well. If he hadn't been so confident in Archer's skills, as well as possessing the naïve belief that none of the other Servants could possibly beat his Servant, then this wouldn't have happened. And, at least Assassin hadn't gotten involved...

_'Yes... Assassin didn't get involved.'_ Tokiomi thought. With none of the other Masters or Servants having any knowledge regarding Assassin's continued existence, he and Kirei still had the advantage. Their plan could still go as they had planned. All that he would need to do was to play it smart and try and have Archer take a step back. _'Let the other Masters fight among each other...'_

"Master?" Archer questioned.

Tokiomi shook his head to clear his thoughts, "I was just thinking of how we would correct tonight's mistake."

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Einzbern Manor—Dining Room)

At the moment, one could find Kiritsugu and Maiya staring Irisiviel and Saber from across the dining room table. Every face in the room was serious, just like the discussion they were having at that moment.

"From what we have seen so far, we have deemed Berserker the most obvious threat." Kiritsugu stated as he held up a blurry photo of the human-like form that "the worm" had transformed into before he had retreated. "We have received a tip that his Master, the Matou Family's representative for this War, was checked in and then escaped from a nearby hospital. There have been no sightings since then."

"I believe that Berserker was called back due to the poor health of his Master." Maiya offered as she slid over a copied envelope full of Kariya Matou's hospital records. "Based on his records, he is in very poor health. With that, it is not that crazy to suggest that he would be unable to support Berserker in a prolonged battle."

"Of all the known Masters, Waver Velvet would be the easiest to eliminate. Rider, however, would prove to be a nuisance. She has shown the ability to fly, shoot high-damage prana bullets, and summon a mount—a North American P-51 Mustang, to be exact." Kiritsugu said.

Irisiviel frowned slightly, "One that she seems capable of calling again even after it has been destroyed. And use it as a projectile capable of causing a lot of damage..."

"Still... not as much damage as Berserker or even Lancer seem capable of." Maiya interjected before she brought forth a picture of the bikini-wearing Servant. No one noticed as Saber's face flush, as she lowered her head to shield her cheeks from sight as she clenched her hands into fists. "With her Noble Phantasm, she could turn any battlefield to her advantage."

"She does, however, seem to hold back when in the presence of those she deems children..." Kiritsugu said with a nod in Saber's direction. "That is something that we can use to our advantage when we face Lancer in the future."

"Furthermore, we should prepare to deal with Assassin." Maiya added before she passed out a picture of the Servant of the Shadows and his Master. "His Master is still protected within the church, so it is very likely that Kotomine Kirei allowed Assassin free reign to do what he wished while he took shelter…"

* * *

**A/N: Author's Note:** Well, that's the end of this chapter. I hoped you guys liked it and the hints about what is going to happen in the future. If you did, would you mind telling me your thoughts? What was good, what you think could be improved, your thoughts on what is going to happen, etc. It would be gratefully appreciated.

On another note, can you guys believe the writing streak I'm on for this story? Something's clicked and seems to be pushing me to be able to produce a chapter each day. Whether those chapters are as good as you reviewers want is left to be seen, but wow. Although, I can't take all the credit. You, the reviewers, are big help in that. As is **Sharkteeth,** **Highvalour**, and** The Infamous Man.**


	8. Regrouping and Ploting:

Disclaimer: I don't really own anything.

* * *

Legend:

"Someone is talking."

_'Someone is thinking.'_

"A technique is being used."

* * *

Regrouping and Ploting:

* * *

(Kariya's Apartment)

"I didn't know you would be back so soon, dude." Berserker said from his place on the couch, watching some sort of anime, as Kariya entered. The white-haired man was still garbed in the white gown he had woken up in and had a fiery expression.

"Berserker!" Kariya barked. "I told you not to take me to the hospital."

Berserker fidgeted in his seat, "I, uh, know that but..." He looked down at his hands, "You were really sick. And unconscious. I had to take you to the hospital."

"Did it occur to you that there was a reason I ordered you to _not_ take me to the hospital, Berserker?" Kariya demanded harshly. Berserker flinched at his tone, but Kariya wasn't finished yet. "By your reaction, you probably didn't think of why I woud have ordered it. And then you disregarded it."

"Kariya..." Berserker began to say.

"If I hadn't woken up when I did, a doctor or nurse would have found out that very reason; the Crest Worms! If they had found out that my body was fille with the worms, then they would begin studying the worms and asking their colleagues about it." Kariya all-but shouted. "Doing that would bring the Mages Association, the Church, or _both_ crashing down on our heads!"

Berserker said nothing, too ashamed. Kariya stared at the green Servant for a minute, until his fumes had run out, before he turned around. The only sounds were of him limping towards his bedroom and the sound of the anime that Berserker had been watching.

* * *

Kariya woke up in the morning to the sound and smell of frying bacon. He groaned and turned on his bed, not wanting to get up. Running away from that nurse, getting back to his apartment without anyone noticing, and then confronting Berserker had exhausted him. The smell of bacon, however, was not so easily resisted.

"Alright, fine..." Kariya mumbled after a relentless five minutes of tossing and turning. "'m up," He stated as he rolled out from underneath his cover and opened his eyes. "Berserker?"

Berserker was humming a little to himself as he set the last plate—piled with some strange-looking bacon—on the table. Other plates of food that Kariya could see were: tofu eggs, waffles, buttered toast, and a plate of cinnamon rolls. Berserker turned to look and him and grinned softly, sheepishly, trying to act as if this breakfast wasn't a peace offering.

"Morning, dude. I made breakfast." Berserker said with a minor head gesture towards the table.

Kariya got up, walked over, and carefully sat down in his chair. "Thank you, Berserker." He said gratefully as Berserker did the same. "You didn't have to do this."

"I know, but I wanted to." Berserker replied as they both began to pile food on their plates. The Servant of Madness took a bite of tofu eggs and swallowed before speaking again, "You know... my friends used to complain whenever I made breakfast."

"Why? Is it because of the tofu?" Kariya asked. Personally, he didn't have any reason to dislike tofu. He knew that other people disliked it, but after seeing the Matou Family's training methods and living on the streets for a bit, he had lost whatever pickiness for foods that he had.

Berserker nodded, "Yeah. No one else really liked it..." He smiled sadly, "Cyborg and I used to fight all the time. He wanted meat and I wanted tofu. I mean, I have eaten meat but... I can turn into any animal out there. It just feels... _wrong_... to eat something you have been."

"I can understand that." Kariya said before the two of them descended into silence. The only sounds, for a while, were of their silverware clinking against their plates and the sound of them chewing the food in their mouths.

"Can I ask you something, dude?" Berserker finally said, breaking the silence.

"Of course."

"Why are you in this War?" Berserker blurted out, making Kariya's eyes widen. "I mean, it's obvious that you're very, very sick. And you got even _worse_ when I battled those other Servants." He looked Kariya into the eyes, "I know that the Holy Grail is supposed to grant a wish... but is it really worth throwing your life away?"

Kariya sat in shocked silence for a minute. "Berserker..." He began to say, head lowering down to break their locked gazes. "I know that I'll die if I continue on in this War. It's only a matter of _when_ I die that's important."

"Why is this war so important to you that you'd risk your own _life_?" Berserker all-but demanded.

"... Because, if I lose this War, then Sakura-chan will continue to suffer." Kariya answered after a sigh. He looked up and locked resolute eyes with Berserker's own startled eyes. "And I cannot allow that. No matter what happens to me, I cannot allow that man to continue to hurt Sakura-chan."

For the next thirty minutes, Berserker listened in horrified fascination as his Master told him everything. From how he fell in love with Aoi, learned of the plot involving Aoi, and how he had willingly let her go. His horror manifested when Kariya began to tell him about the Matou Family and what they believed was 'training'. What was happening with Aoi's daughter, Sakura, and how she was suffering under Zouken Matou's hand.

By the end of it, Berserker had tears in his eyes and had clutched his side of the table so hard it broke. "T-That's just so... so _wrong_." He furiously wiped at his eyes and shook his head, "I... I need to get some air."

Berserker went into his spirit form and fled the apartment. He couldn't bear it in himself to see such a man such as Kariya right now. Not when Kariya reminded him so much of himself... Not when it brought back such _horrible_ memories.

* * *

(Fuyuki City—Church)

_'The battle last night was interesting.'_ Kirei mused to himself.

Or at least what Assassin had seen of it. Apparently, the Servant of the Shadows had fallen asleep shortly after Lancer had released her Noble Phantasm. While he felt a bit disapointed in that regard, as well as feeling a bit amused, his father had been furious. Not only had they learned "next to nothing" about the other Servants, his father had said, Assassin still "hadn't proved himself as a Servant".

Even with Assassin's failure, they had learned about the other Servants' abilities from a message from Tokiomi. This had appeased his father, but Assassin was moping around, ashamed that he had been unable to fulfill his duty. It didn't matter much, since they had gotten the information they wanted, and they had gotten it without revealing Assassin was still alive.

_'Now... how to act?'_ Kirei wondered to himself. In the message from Tokiomi, the man had also told them that he would be pulling back Archer and wanted them to do the same with Assassin. Kirei, however, was wondering if that was such a good idea. The other Servants and Masters were still recovering and dealing with last night's battle. _'It would be a perfect time for us to make a move.'_

No one would be expecting a battle so shortly after the last one had ended. And they certainly wouldn't be expecting Assassin to be the one instigating the attack. Their suprise over the situation could lead to their very undoing.

Kirei glanced over to where Assassin was standing, _'And it would also make Assassin feel useful..'_ His lips upturned as Assassin locked gazes with him before he beckoned the Servant of the Shadows to come closer, "I have a job for you..."

* * *

(Mackenzie's House—Guest Bedroom)

"We got to see a lot of what the other Servants are capable of." Rider said from her spot on the edge of the bed. Her Master was sitting in the middle of it, listening intently. "For one, we got to see that Saber wields a sword rendered invisible by the winds that surround it and she knows how to use it very well. She also seems capable of withstanding high-level magic and increasing her abilities for a short amount of time."

Waver nodded.

"We also know that Lancer has a powerful Noble Phantasm that allows her to manipulate the weather. By using it, she can create liquid-like clouds, clouds solid enough to land on, create dozens of lightning bolts that act like heat-seeking missiles, and enormous gusts of wind. It was displayed that, despite her obvious power, Lancer is weak against long-rang attacks that she can't expect. And, without any armor, she is also weak against powerful short-ranged attacks."

"With your prana bullets and flying ability, it should be easy for you to find an opening, Rider." Waver said before he paused. "Also, while the others know about your "Strike Force"... none of us are aware of any other Noble Phantasms you have or the true strength of them."

That, Waver thought, was an advantage that he and Rider could take care of. While the Rider class had low strength, endurance, and luck they made up for it by having greater agility, mana, and the most powerful Noble Phantasms out of the other Servant classes. Rider had displayed one of her Noble Phantasms, Strike Force, but had yet to display its full power.

"The other Masters and Servants probably think that I can recreate my mount any number of times that I want..." Rider began to say. "While that is true, there is more to it than that. I—"

The sound of the door opening interrupted them before Mr. Mackenzie stuck his head into the room, "I don't know what you two are talking about... but it's a beautiful day. No grandson of mine is going to be staying inside with his girlfriend when they could be out doing something!"

Waver gained a horrified expression as Rider's eyes widened.

_'He thinks that I am Master's girlfriend?'_ Rider thought as a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. She spared her Master a glance, biting her lip. _'Now that I think about it... Master _is_ kind of cute. And he's a good person so, maybe,...'_

"Oh, look, she's blushing!" Mr. Mackenzie teased.

"_Grandpa!_"

* * *

(Moon Spring Spa)

At the moment, one could find Irisiviel and Saber inside of the Moon Spring Spa's sauna, relaxing. After such a tense night, Irisiviel had decided that it would be fun to go to the spa and relax. Despite knowing about it, it was a totally new experience for the women. Irisiviel had never been to a spa before in her life and Saber had been born before the _idea _of a spa was thought of.

So, clad in white towels and sandals that the spa had provided, they were here.

"Isn't this nice, Saber?" Irisivie asked with a warm, somewhat dreamy, smile on her face. "It feels like all my worries are being wiped away..."

Saber, wearing a similar expression, nodded, "It does feel good, Irisiviel."

Originally, Saber had protested against getting treatment for herself at the spa. That was before, however, a worker had told her that she could only go with Irisiviel if she did what the silver-haired woman did. And, since Irisiviel really wanted to go... Saber hadn't the heart to refuse her.

Saber was glad she had gone with Irisiviel now, though. She hadn't realized how tense, or tired, she had been. The treatments that Irisiviel had signed them up for took care of that, slowly reducing the Servant of the Sword into a state of bliss.

* * *

(Fuyuki City—Streets)

"I wish that I could do that every day..." Lancer sighed as she and Sola-Ui were walking down the street, back to the Hynatt Hotel. They had just finished a rejuvenating trip to the Moon Spring Spa that had really hit the spot. Not only did she now feel, and look great she had even managed to temporairly forget about her issues with Kayneth.

Sola-Ui smiled, "You could do that if you wanted to, Lancer. Kayneth has more than enough money to pay for it."

"That's a really tempting offer, Sola-Ui!" Lancer laughed. The sound drew the attention of several of the nearby passerby who became entranced by her beauty. Or her state of dress, which she hadn't bothered to change. Either or. "Getting pampered and sticking it to Kayneth by using his money to do it? Maybe we should go back right now and order massages..."

"Massages?" Sola-Ui asked.

Lancer turned to her with an "are you crazy" look on her face, "You haven't had a massage before, Sola-Ui?"

"I have not." Sola-Ui said.

Before Sola-Ui could do anything, Lancer grabbed her by the hand and began to march her off towards the spa. She ignored the looks from the people surrounding them, or even Sola-Ui's protests. She would rather face Blackbeard himself than allow a fellow women to not know the pleasure of massages. Besides, they would be using Kayneth's money. He wouldn't mind if they got massages.

Or maybe he would, as he had originally sent them out to get groceries.

* * *

(Top of a nearby building)

"I've found Lancer..." Assassin muttered to seemingly no one as he watched Lancer drag that red-haired woman back to the spa. "Should I attack?"

Assassin could practically feel his Master's pause over the link. Finally, after what seemed like forever, his Master started talking. _"Instigating a battle with Lancer in that location could prevent her from releasing her Noble Phantasm. Hm... It would be best if you used your own Noble Phantasm and ensured that no one escapes from that building. Make sure not to be seen."_

"As you wish, Master..." Assassin muttered as he slid down into his own shadow. While he did feel wrong in taking out a building full of innocent people... this was war. War wasn't fair nor did it care if those struck down within it were innocent or not. That was why it was war. "As you wish."

It was time to show his Master just _why_ he had been summoned to fight in this war.

* * *

**A/N: Author's Note: **Well, that's the end of this chapter. I apologize for being unable to keep up with my former "update Fate: Chaos daily" routine... I guessed I jinxed myself when I mentioned that. Still, I hope you guys are ready for what's going to happen _next_.

Shot Outs: **The Infamous Man** (for Beta-ing this chapter), **Sharkteeth** (for encouraging me to write it), **Highvalour **(for inspiring me to write it), and all of you reviewers. I couldn't have don it without you guys, so thanks. Also, you guys should check out their stories: they're _really_ cool.


	9. The Shadow March:

Disclaimer: I don't really own anything.

* * *

Legend:

"Someone is talking."

_'Someone is thinking.'_

"A technique is being used."

* * *

The Shadow March:

* * *

(With Berserker)

When he had left Kariya's apartment, all Berserker had wanted to do was get away. He couldn't have dealt with Kariya a minute longer. Not without dragging up some painful, horrible memories that were better left forgotten. He had thought that, by doing this, he could find a place to clear his head so he could figure out what to do.

It seemed, though, that his body had decided for him.

Instead of flying into the nearby forest, he had flown to the source of his current problems: Matou Manor. His eyes narrowed at the sight of it, and what was likely going on within. He landed on the ground and shifted back into his normal form. Steadying himself, he pushed whatever issues he may have to deal with behind him. Right now, he had a little girl to save.

He _had_ been a hero, after all.

Getting to the door, Berserker tried the lock: no dice. Still, that wasn't a problem for him. He morphed into an ant and slipped under a crack in the door. Once inside the manor, Berserker shifted back into his regular form. It was there that he came face-to-face with a wrinkled, white-clad, and bald old man leaning on a cane.

Berserker's eyes widened before he released a surprised yell, instinctively morphing into a green fly. The old man's expression didn't change, but Berserker noticed that the old man's eyes were locked on him. It was really creepy. '_... Is this the "Zouken" that Kariya was talking about?' _

"You obviously came here for a reason, so stop wasting my time." The old man said.

The Servant of Madness flinched at the tone in the elder's voice and shifted back into his human form. Despite how creepy the man's stare was, and how uncomfortable it was making him, Berserker managed to lock gazes with him. It was like looking into a dark cave... a _very_ creepy dark cave.

"I came here for Sakura." Berserker stated.

The old man tilted his head slightly, "So... Kariya believes he cannot fulfill his part of our bargain? And he sent _you_—" the word was practically spat out. "—here to take Sakura-chan?" He shook his head as Berserker frowned, "How foolish."

"Kariya doesn't know I'm here." Berserker said, now assured of the old man's identity. "I heard what you've been doing with Sakura and how you're using Kariya. It's sick and wrong and a bunch of other words that I can't say!" A hint of steel entered his eyes, "But, the point is, it ends _today_, Zouken."

'You can try, Berserker. But, I wonder how long you'll last without a Master..."

Berserker's eyes narrowed, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh." Zouken's eyebrows rose, "You didn't think I wouldn't take precautions against this? What do you think of me: a _fool_?" He shook his head and leaned on his cane, "No. I knew that there was a chance that failure would turn you against me... With but a thought, I can use the worms inside that failure to kill him."

"What?" Berserker whispered. That couldn't be true! Kariya may be sick with those worms inside of him, but Kariya was in control of them. Kariya had to be in control of them... right? If Kariya was in control of them, though, why would he allow them to continue to hurt him so much? _'... He _can't_ control them,'_ He thought in dawning, horrified realization.

Zouken smiled sinisterly, "I see you're getting my point. Even with all of your strength, I can end you by killing Kariya." He paused for a moment, "Sure, the Matou Family will lose _this_ war... but there are future wars to take into consideration."

"Why are you doing this?!" Berserker shouted furiously, wanting to punch Zouken's face in. He held back, knowing that, if he were to attack, Zouken wouldn't hesitate to do what he was threatening to do. "Why are you hurting Sakura and Kariya?! What have they done to _you_!?"

"Nothing." Zouken said.

Berserker felt as his stomach's bottom dropped out from underneath him. _Nothing_? Zouken was doing this—"training" Sakura and ruining Kariya's life—for no _reason_? Berserker had dealt with numerous villains who had committed heinous acts, but they all had a "reason" for doing it. He had, however, never dealt with someone like this before.

Never had he dealt with a monster like _this_ before.

"If you really want to help the failure and Sakura, merely win the Holy Grail for the Matou Family." Zouken said before he began to turn away from Berserker. With the knowledge he had imparted to the Servant, the foolish child wouldn't dare touch him. "And, if you and the failure are unable to complete your part of the deal, I keep Sakura."

Berserker could only stare at Zouken's back, feeling numb. He didn't know what to think—what to _do_—and it left him feeling hopeless. It was an odd feeling, as he had never felt that way before. Sure, his team had gone through some tough times, but they had always made it through. Not even "The End" had given him this feeling; he could still _fight_.

If he fought now, everything would fall apart. Kariya would die. He wouldn't be able to find any solace either as the thing he was giving his life for would continue to suffer. And that little girl... she would continue to suffer without even a potential _glimmer_ of peace.

It tore at his heart—screamed at him that _he should fight! He was a Hero!—_but Berserker turned back towards the door. A few tears escaped from his eyes as he left Matou Manor, and Sakura, behind. Familiar, mocking laughter filled his ears.

_"You've failed again."_ It laughed.

* * *

(Fuyuki City—Moon Spring Spa)

"Can I help you, sir?" Yue Toki asked as from her spot behind the reception desk. The young man who had just come in looked at her for a moment before the lights flickered and the floor started to shake. For some unexplainable reason, she was unable to look away from those eyes. _'W-What's going on? I-I can't...!'_

The lights suddenly cut off, making Yue scream as her world was plunged into darkness. It shouldn't have been possible, but whatever was happening, it was also blocking out the light coming in from the windows. She screamed louder when she heard something break and rattle, terrified tears running down her face.

"I'm sorry."

Yue didn't get a chance to turn around, or wonder who said that, before she fell to the floor. Her eyes dulled as the life left them, but not before she _saw_. Not before she had seen the creatures that had burst from the floor of the lobby. It filled her dying spirit with terror before she hit the floor, dead to the world.

Assassin moved away from the body and turned towards his summoned creatures. "Search this place and eliminate _anyone_ that you come across!" The creatures roared their approval before they began to slither across the walls, the ceiling, or race across the floor towards the door. "Go!"

* * *

(Moon Spring Spa—Hallway)

Lancer and Sola-Ui had been on their way to the "Massage Room" with their attendant when the lights flickered. While the attendant tried to play it off, Lancer and Sola-Ui's bodies tensed. Unlike the attendant, they were involved in the Fourth Holy Grail War. This "random" event could actually be the result of a Servant attack.

"Go!"

Hearing this shout, Lancer, Sola-Ui, and their attendant turned around in time to see numerous shadow-like creatures burst into the hallway. The attendant fainted from sheer terror as Sola-Ui took a step backwards while her eyes bulged. Lancer's eyes widened, _'Could it be...? No... It _can't_...'_

"Lancer!" Sola-Ui cried out as the creatures surged towards them.

At the sound of Sola-Ui's voice, Lancer was snapped out of her thoughts. Out from the pouch on her leg flew her Clima-Tact, which she grasped with both hands. By the time the shadow-like abominations were five feet away from her and Sola-Ui, a bubble had formed on the tip of the Clima-Tact. "Gasuto Sōdo (Gust Sword)!"

A burst of pressurized wind shot out from Lancer's staff and crashed into the incoming horde. The creatures howled and shrieked as they were forced backwards, hitting the area above the doorway from which they came. This only seemed to be a moment's victory as the creatures got up and surged forth, howling with rage.

"Stand back, Sola-Ui!" Lancer warned as she lashed out with her Clima-Tact, unleashing a lightning bolt. As opposed to last time, however, this time the creatures were prepared. They jumped to the left or right, making Lancer grimace as they avoided her attack. _'Smart little things...'_

It was then that Lancer felt something wrap around her feet. Her eyes bulged as she stared downwards, finding her legs caught within the coils of a snake-like creature. Its jaw raced towards her unprotected chest as she threw her arms downwards, aiming to stab it with her Clima-Tact. The snake clamped its jaws around the edge of the Clima-Tact, holding it there, in a vice-like grip. Someone screamed.

_'Sola-Ui!'_ Lancer thought. She had been so caught up trying to save herself from the snake that she had forgotten about the other creatures and Sola-Ui. "Damnit!" She caught a flash of light from further down in the hallway and heard the monsters shriek; Sola-Ui was fighting back. "Hold on, Sola-Ui!"

* * *

(Moon Spring Spa—Sauna)

Saber and Irisiviel had been about to leave the sauna when the lights flickered and then went out. Soon, the only lights in the area came from the small candles that were scattered about. The lights casted flickering shadows against the walls, which only furthered Saber's sense of unease.

Then, the screaming started.

Irisiviel looked around the room with wide eyes, clutching at the fabric of her fluffy white towel. "S-Saber? What's going on?"

"Stay calm, Irisiviel." Saber said as she donned her standard Servant attire, gripping at the unseen Excalibur. If people were screaming that loudly, or with that much fear in their voices, then something was really wrong. "I will protect you."

Something lunged out from where the door was, towards Irisiviel, who screamed at the sight of it. Seconds into the thing's flight, Saber was in its path. She cut it down with a swift swing of Excalibur, sending halves of the monster flying in two separate directions. Landing in front of Irisiviel, Saber watched the creature as it fell, careful for any tricks.

"Saber?" Irisiviel whispered, shaking.

Saber frowned, "Don't worry, Irisiviel. There may be more of these creatures lying about but, as long as you stay close to me, we will be fine." The candle-light flickered, drawing Saber's upper face into dark shadows. "I promise you on my honor as a knight."

* * *

(Moon Spring Spa—With Assassin)

Assassin was sitting before the lobby's front entrance, eyes closed. To keep the building sealed and keep control over his shadow monsters, he needed to concentrate. He frowned a bit as another of his creatures' lives was cut short. Normal Humans wouldn't be able to do such a thing and Lancer was busy, so _who_...?

Searching for the source through his monsters' eyes, he found out just what he was looking for. It caused him to visibly startle; he hadn't been expecting _this_. Still, it seemed that he had gotten lucky. It seemed that, today, he would be eliminating two of the most powerful Servants in this war.

"Σκιές του θανάτου..."

The shadows around him shivered excitedly before twisting as they assumed the forms of monsters. These were no ordinary monsters, though. These monsters were creatures that he had defeated in his life as a "Hero". Skeleton Warriors, Ghosts, Cyclopes, Dragon-Women, and numerous more. It was ironic that he would use them now, but if there were two Servants here, he would have to start bringing out the big guns.

* * *

(With Sola-Ui and Lancer)

Sola-Ui Nuade-Re Sophia-Ri wasn't having the best of times. Originally, after they had come back to the Moon Spring Spa, she had been a little excited. She had heard of "massages" before, but had never had the pleasure of getting one herself. It was exciting to her because she would finally understand what it felt like as well as make Lancer happy.

That was before the power turned off, the attendant fainted, and shadow-like creatures decided to ruin her day. It hadn't taken too long for Sola-Ui to realize what was going on, either. A Master or Servant must have recognized Lancer on the street and decided to follow them. She hated to admit it, but ambushing her and Lancer had been a smart idea. Not only did the opposing Servant/Master pair have the advantage of surprise, they _knew_ that Lancer wouldn't be able to go all-out.

While it was a good deduction, it didn't save her when Lancer was distracted and the creatures lunged towards her and the attendant. She wanted to say that she had saved the attendant, but they would've caught up to her. She regretfully left the attendant behind. Some of the creatures stopped to deal with the woman while the rest lunged towards her.

Sola-Ui wasn't that much of a fighter. It was odd because most would think that she would be a great fighter, considering her build and her large number of magic circuits, but it was the truth. That was why she acted as an additional support of prana to Lancer. It was something that she could do.

The red-haired woman, if asked about it, would also like to point out that she was a part of the Sophia-Ri family. While the Sophia-Ri family could produce above-average magi, they focused on Spirit Summoning. In fact, the current head of the family was also the head of the Spiritual Summoning department at the Clock Tower. Still, that meant that the magus' of the family either were below-average or average, combat-wise.

Luckily, Sola-Ui was in the latter category. If she wasn't, then she would've fallen under the initial onslaught of shadow monsters. As it was, she had managed to repel them with a fire spell—having thought the light would weaken and/or hurt them—but at the cost of having her left leg clawed. It wasn't that deep, and she could heal it in a snap, if she wasn't being forced to battle these things.

"Boruto (Volts)!" Lancer's voice cried.

For a moment, the hallway was awash with the light of five lightning bolts. Sola-Ui could only watch in amazement as the bolts flew through the air, piercing through and killing several of the creatures around Lancer. She shook herself out of her awe as the creatures screeched. She released the same spell as before and watched as it burned through two monsters. That, however, didn't stop the rest of the things from charging her.

* * *

(With Saber and Irisiviel)

It had taken a long time, but Saber and Irisiviel had eventually reached the dressing room. Saber—clothes ruffled and scratched up—stood in front of the door. If any more of those creatures wanted to get to Irisiviel, they would have to get through her first. "How goes it Irisiviel?"

Irisiviel—clothed again—was gripping on the cell phone she had pulled from her purse. "I can't seem to get a signal, Saber."

Their plan, so far, had involved them getting to the dressing room. Not only would Irisiviel get a chance to get her clothes back on, they could call Kiritsugu. While Saber had assured Irisiviel that she could protect her, Irisiviel had wanted to call Kiritsugu. It seemed, however, that whoever was causing this mess was also messing with the phone reception.

Someone in the building screamed.

"We should haste in getting out of here, Irisiviel." Saber said, tightening her grip around Excalibur. "Whichever fiendish Servant responsible for this attack is not going to give up. Whatever those creatures are, they aren't made out of a lot of mana. So, I suggest we move. It would be best to confront this Servant head-on."

Whatever Irisiviel was going to say was cut short as the door caved in inwards with a sickening crunch of metal. Saber's body tensed as another punch rang out, sending a head-sized piece towards her. Even as she sliced it in half, her attention never wavered from the newly created hole in the door. Her attention never wavered as shadows of monsters—Cyclopes and Skeletons—slithered in from the hole like they really _were_ shadows.

Saber's form blurred as she raced forward to confront the creatures. A harsh breeze rushed through the room as the Servant of the Sword twisted around and about the monsters, slicing them. Saber soon discovered, however, that these things were more resistant than the others had been. Also, unlike the originals, these things seemed capable of healing themselves.

Still, the creatures were no match for someone like Saber. A single strike from her would cut the things still coming in from the hallway outside in half. Then, as shadowy strands tried to reconnect the halves, she would bisect them again, but vertically. Unlike the battle against Berserker, or even Lancer, doing this barely making her work up a sweat.

* * *

**Omake: **Different Servant (Lancer):

* * *

"Who are you and what have you done with Diarmuid?!" Kayneth Archibald demanded of his supposed "Servant".

After his brat of a former student had stolen his first catalyst, a part of the legendary Alexander the Great's cape, Kayneth had brought out his "backup" catalyst. The remnants of the mystical swords Moralltach and Beagalltach he had used were supposed to have summoned Diarmuid Ua Dauibhne, or Diarmuid of the Love Spot. So why did he end up with this man?! He, obviously, wasn't Diarmuid!

Instead of Diarmuid, the Servant was a man with ear-length, wavy brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a golden breastplate, a belt looked to have been made from small brown shields, and baggy blue pants. On his arms were golden bands near his shoulders and a golden, roman-style helmet was held under his left arm. His right hand carried a red staff.

"I am the Servant known as Lancer." The man said.

Two weeks later would find Lancer—formerly known as Kilik—and his Master, Sola-Ui, in possession of the Holy Grail. He protected his Master from the vengeful spirit within the Holy Grail and then slayed it. The cleansed grail then granted Sola-Ui's wish for him to gain a body, and spent the rest of her life with him.

* * *

**A/N: Author's Note:** Well, that's the end of this chapter. And, boy, are things starting to get interesting. Berserker learns the depth of Kariya's situation, Lancer, Sola-Ui, Saber, and Irisiviel are ambushed, and Assassin begins to prove he has the power of a Heroic Servant.

If you liked it, review~! Reviewing helps motivate my autistic self into working more. Options of reviewing: state your opinions, tell me how I did, thoughts about the characters, was it realistic enough, and how I could improve the chapter.

Shout Outs: **The Infamous Man, Sharkteeth, Highvalour, Piterio, Sekishishi, ultima-owner, Zaralann, Grey Master of Ice and Muji, shinaobi, battleking, NivMizzet6977, **and everyone else that has helped me with this chapter and/or provided positive reviews that I found interesting.

Also, on a non Fate: Chaos note... Amity's Arrancar has received awesome works of fan art from **untambledragon144**. Check them through the links on my profile; they're _amazing_~


	10. Beat the Drums:

Disclaimer: I don't really own anything.

* * *

Legend:

"Someone is talking."

_'Someone is thinking.'_

"A technique is being used."

* * *

Beat the Drums:

* * *

(Moon Spring Spa—Massage Room)

"Those things are really starting to irritate me." Lancer muttered to herself.

While Lancer was able to defeat/kill those shadow-like creatures, it didn't seem to make a difference. More just emerged from the walls or floor, taking the places of those she had slain. What was worse was that newer "models" of the accursed things had begun to appear. If she could use her Noble Phantasm, they wouldn't be that much of a problem, but as it stood now... she and Sola-Ui had been forced to retreat.

Lancer glanced at the red-haired woman. Sola-Ui had proven she could fight in their initial engagement with the creatures. That didn't mean, however, that she could win against them; just hold them back. Judging by the speed and strength of those things that wasn't an insult, it was a _compliment_.

Still, the battle had taken its toll on Sola-Ui's body. The woman's body was riddled was countless scratches, bleeding gashes, and even a couple of areas where it looked like she had been stabbed. Furthermore, Sola-Ui's clothes were ripped up and bloodstained while her right slipper had gone missing. It was probably still out in the hallway, being trampled on by those beasts that were patrolling it, searching for any hint of natural life.

Sola-Ui had assured her that it wouldn't take her to long to heal herself, but Lancer was worried. She knew that she could take those things on and knew that Sola-Ui wasn't much of a fighter. When they finally left the room they had boarded themselves into, they would be jumping back into the fire. One wrong move and Sola-Ui could die.

_'Maybe I should use Dorobō no pōchi...' _Lancer thought as Sola-Ui's wounds began to heal.

It was a tempting thought. Dorobō no pōchi was her second Noble Phantasm, based on her reputation as a cat burglar. With it, she could essentially "steal" anything that she could see and use it later. If she used it on Sola-Ui, then Sola-Ui would be protected from the creatures. If she died while Sola-Ui was still in the Dorobō no pōchi, however... it wouldn't be pretty.

So, the main question was thus: was it worth the risk to Sola-Ui to use the Dorobō no pōchi?

Before Lancer could come to a conclusion about that, there came a startled shriek from outside the doorway. Both females turned to it, bodies tensing, as what sounded like a battle was waged outside. Numerous shrieks and howls filled the air alongside countless thuds and the sound of clothing being ripped. As soon as it started, though, the battle was over. Silence descended.

Lancer and Sola-Ui exchanged looks, thinking the same thing. _'Who won?'_

Then came the sound of footsteps, approaching the doorway. Lancer raised her staff towards the door as, behind her, a recently-healed Sola-Ui gathered prana. If the person that opened the door was one of those creatures, they would attack. If not, well... they would deal with that later. They were already nervous and, in Lancer's case, trigger happy.

"Hello?" A female-sounding voice called out as the door opened.

"Boruto (Volts)!" Lancer shouted out a half-second later as she released a barrage of lightning bolts towards the two shadowy figures standing in the doorway. At the same time, Sola-Ui released a wave of her gathered prana, boosting Lancer's lightning bolts.

The shorter figure's eyes narrowed. "Lancer!" She said as she blurred in front of the taller, white-haired figure and used her invisible sword to block Lancer's lightning bolts. She was caught unaware, however, when Sola-Ui's prana wave crashed into her. "Ugh...!"

"Saber!" The white-haired figure called as she and the blue-clad figure were launched backwards.

Sola-Ui's and Lancer's eyes widened before Lancer said, "Saber?"

The blue-clothed figure—Saber—recovered quickly by stabbing her blade into the floor, slowing her down, while Irisiviel continueed to rocket backwards. By doing this, Saber managed to push herself forward a couple of inches and land in a crouch, left hand around her sword. Prana flooded her body before she seemed to teleport: one moment she was on the ground, the next she was catching Irisiviel's body in mid-air. After landing in another crouch, Saber put Irisiviel down and glared at Lancer and Sola-Ui.

"Stay back, Irisiviel." Saber warned.

Lancer glared right back, "You too, Sola-Ui."

Both Irisiviel and Sola-Ui looked about to say something until a piercing howl rang throughout the hallways. Four sets of eyes snapped in the direction it came from. It was there, at the end of the hallway, where another horde of creatures were gathering.

"I suggest a truce... until we get rid of these things and the jerk responsible for this." Lancer said.

Saber nodded, "Very well."

* * *

(Moon Spring Spa—Lobby)

"They still haven't died yet?" Assassin growled with a furious expression on his face.

How could he have expected anything less? His creatures had been able to kill every_ human _within the building, but had yet to do so to his main targets. Even his more advanced, prana-expensive creations had yet to make a dent in his targets. It went a long way to remind him that Servants were much more powerful, and resilient, than humans could ever _dream_ to be.

And now it seemed that his targets had _teamed up_ with each other! Assassin knew that they had done so because they would have an easier time escaping... but he hadn't wanted that. He wanted them to have started fighting one another. Maybe even kill one another, so that he could take out the surviving one. It would have made his job so much easier! But, _nooo_...

"If I hadn't been summoned into the Assassin class..." Assassin muttered. This class gathered empathized his stealthy skills, but had downgraded his physical abilities. He knew, from Kirei, that this was the reason that Assassins usually went after the Masters in these wars. But, unlike those other Assassins, didn't believe in that. "... then I could fight them myself."

In his life, he had been trained to fight monsters like every other Demi-God. Originally, he hadn't been the best at it, but after the whole Titan fiasco... he had decided he needed to buckle down. It was lucky that he did because it was those physical abilities, alongside his supernatural powers, that had allowed him to survive against Gaea's army for as long as he did.

Now, though, while he still had those skills... he no longer had the previous strength, endurance, and speed he had before. Without them, he would lose pretty quickly to the combined might of Saber, Lancer, and their Masters. He paused, mid-thought, as a sudden idea struck him.

"... That could work."

* * *

(Meanwhile—With Kayneth)

"Lord Elloi-Moi, numerous fires have been set on the lower levels of the building. Because of this, we are requesting that everyone evacuate the building."

Kayneth nodded, "Thank you for the information. I will be down shortly."

After then exchanging goodbyes, Kayneth hung up and put away the phone. So, it seemed that the war was really starting. With Lancer's display of skill on the docks, the other Masters and Servants would have seen the need to eliminate her. The easiest way to get rid of the bothersome Servant was to eliminate _him_.

To do that, one of the other Masters or Servants had probably started those fires. Doing this would draw him out where the others could kill him. Ha! As if he would be so stupid! Why would he leave his stronghold he has so painstakingly crafted?

He was protected by twenty-four layers of bounded barriers, a countless amount of summoned monsters, various traps, and mystical spatial alterations in the lobby. He dared the unfortunate Master or Servant responsible for the fires to try and make it to him. If they didn't die by then, it would be all-too easy to pick them off.

Confident in his safety, Kayneth poured himself a glass of white wine. He took the glass with him into the living room whereupon he sat down, closed his eyes, and took a sip. Why not enjoy himself a little bit? He needed it after having to put up with Lancer's willful and stubborn attitude all the time. Not to mention Sola-Ui's own increasingly cold front towards him...

* * *

(Fuyuki City—Outside the Hyatt Hotel)

"Is _everyone_ accounted for?" Kiritsugu whispered into his comm. link from where he stood amongst the crowd of evacuated denizens of the Hyatt Hotel. He stood in the middle of the whispering people, staring at the flickering flames visible through the windows. Flames that he and Maiya had caused.

It had almost been too easy to find out where Kayneth Archibald Elloi-Moi was staying. While Kiritsugu didn't doubt the man was powerful, he wasn't that _smart_. If he was, then he would've done more to hide his identity. And he certainly wouldn't have used his own name, or credit cards, to pay for his stay a hotel. That was like screaming for people to find you.

Unfortunately for Kayneth, he and Maiya had found him. It would have been easier to simply blow up the building, so as not to alert Kayneth, but... that didn't sit right with Kiritsugu. Despite his reputation as the Magus Killer, he had standards. He wouldn't sacrifice a building full of people to kill one man. That was what had led him and Maiya to this scenario.

Thinking about it, Kayneth would probably believe that his protections would keep him safe. And he was _right_. Anyone attempting to go through Kayneth's web would surely die or be weak enough for the man, or his Servant, to pick off. That's why they had decided on blowing the building up; they wouldn't have to go through them. Not even Kayneth's defenses could stand up if the building collapsed on him.

_"Yes."_ Maiya replied.

Kiritsugu nodded. He slipped his hand into one of his coat pockets, palmed the detonator the bombs were synched to, and pressed it. There was an enormous "boom" as the first boom went off and then another, making people scream as they started running away from the building. Kiritsugu fell into step with them, acting as one of them, as the building started to groan.

* * *

(Fuyuki City—Park)

"I'm sorry that he insinuated that, Rider..." Waver sighed.

Rider turned her head towards her Master and tilted her head slightly. "Huh?" Seconds passed before her mind reminded her of when Waver's grandfather had called her Waver's girlfriend. A pink blush appeared on her cheeks, "Oh! It's nothing, Master!"

"I'll set him straight tonight." Waver assured with a small frown on his face, misinterpreting her sudden blush. "I mean, he has no right to be thinking that! I already "told" him about how you were a friend from school that I brought home for a visit."

"Isn't that something that... boyfriends and girlfriends do?" Rider asked, looking anywhere but at her Master. If she did then he would see her blush and then... no. Best not to think down that path, Rider told herself.

Waver stopped walking for a couple of moments. "... Yes, yes it is." Now that he was thinking about it, it _would_ appear as if he and Rider were in a relationship with each other. He had "brought her for a visit" to his supposed family, spent a lot of time together, and even shared a room with her. This realization caused Waver to cover his face with both hands, "Oh, _jeez_."

Both of them were quiet for a moment, each avoiding the other's eyes. Despite knowing that their relationship was strictly professional, the two wondered about it. How would it _feel_ to be boyfriend and girlfriend? Would they be happier if they were boyfriend and girlfriend? Would the other _want_ to be boyfriend and girlfriend?

'_Gah!'_ Waver gripped his hair with both hands and pulled, _'Why am I even thinking of this?! Rider is my Servant for the war! I shouldn't be thinking about how cute she looks or how I feel whenever she calls me "Master"!' _He shuddered in remembrance of the increasingly familiar feeling, _'Maybe... No!'_

Rider twirled a curl of hair around her forefinger, thinking. _'Master is a good person and he likes me. Or, at least, I think he does... Would it be so bad for me and Master to get together?' _She sighed, thinking about the possibilities... and then shook her head. _'No... I-I can't. It wouldn't be fair to Master... when I know what time we had would be very limited.'_

At the same time, both Waver and Rider turned towards each other and blushed. Looking at one another, they couldn't help but think that maybe, somehow, it could happen. Waver looked at the blush on Rider's face and felt his stomach start fluttering while his pulse sky-rocketed. Rider felt her own stomach flutter at the look in her Master's eyes, the way that he was looking at her. Without any warning, Rider stepped towards her Master.

"Master..." Rider breathed.

Waver choked at the tone in Rider's voice, "R-Rider, what...?"

Rider got within Waver's personal space and placed a dainty hand on his chest. This caused Waver's cheeks to turn blood-red before he said her name, stunned. Rider placed her other arm around her Master's back and leaned in. Something was pushing her to do this... making her forget about her earlier thoughts. Instead, it made her think of how handsome and kind her Master really was. It made her think about how good it would feel to be her Master's girlfriend.

Even if it was only for a moment.

"Ride—" Waver began to say.

Rider shook her head, "That's not my name, Master... It's—"

An enormous groan sliced through their tender moment and shattered it to pieces. Both Waver and Rider broke apart as they turned towards the source of the sound. In the distance, the skyscraper that was the Hyatt Hotel was starting to collapse.

"Rider—"

"Strike Force!" Rider called, a step ahead of him. Winds whipped through the area as her mount descended from the heavens. At the same time, her civilian garb vanished within a flash of light and was replaced by her standard Servant attire. She grabbed hold of her Master even before her P-51 Mustang had even neared the ground, rocketing up to it. "I'm going to drop you into the cockpit!"

For once, Waver wasn't crying or crying about flying. He was more concerned with the fact that the Hyatt Hotel was collapsing and that there still might be people inside of it. And, despite himself, Waver could not allow himself to stand by while a building full of people died in what was most likely a Servant's attack.

* * *

(With Assassin)

"Gasuto Sōdo (Gust Sword)!"

Assassin looked up, non-surprised, as the door between the lobby and hallway was blown inwards by a pressurized burst of wind. What did surprise him, though, was that Saber was inside the middle of Lancer's wind attack.

_'She's using it as some sort of propulsion!' _He realized, almost too late, as Saber had already _halved_ the distance between them. Without wasting anymore time, Assassin quickly raised one of his hands to erect a protective black dome around himself.

"I will not allow you to cower in the shadows like an Assassin any longer!" Saber announced as she brought down her invisible sword on his dome as Lancer's wind buffeted it. Despite the strength of it, Saber's sword began to cut through the barrier as if it was passing through water.

_'How is that possible?!' _Assassin thought angrily. His barriers should have been strong enough to block fairly strong-handed attacks from most weaponry. To break through it like Saber's sword was... _'It's most likely a highly magical weapon.'_ He concluded with narrowed eyes as Lancer's wind began to seep through the rip caused by Saber's sword, buffeting his hair and face. '_If she can do that, she __needs to go down first!'_

Moments later, Saber's sword cut through the last of his barrier and hit the floor, causing broken wood fragments and dust to fly into the air. Saber didn't waste a moment and charged forward to cleave the shadowy figure that was visible within it. Instead of moving to attack or defend, however, the figure remained immobile. Her sword slashed through the figure in a diagonal cut only for Saber's eyes to widen as she felt somebody behind her.

"What?!" Saber muttered as she began to spin around, to confront the Servant, only for him to place a short black sword against her throat.

Assassin's lips upturned in a small smirk: his plan had worked. Leaving that shadow mimicry of himself to draw Saber in... _'Now...'_ He thought as shadows snuck up Saber's legs, pinning her to the floor. "Time to end this. Goodbye—"

Right before Assassin could drive his blade further into Saber's neck, his weapon was knocked away by the tip of a blue weapon. He jumped backwards before a gust of wind from Lancer could blow him away and narrowed his eyes. He quickly brought up circle-shaped barrier in front of himself which blocked the bolt of lightning that Lancer had shot at his head. Cracks appeared in the surface of the shield, but a thought from Assassin saw them beginning to repair.

Assassin sank into the shadowed floor and, just as quickly, emerged from the ground behind Lancer. Saber called out to Lancer in warning, but he was faster. He brought down his sword towards her right shoulder, having noticed that it was the main arm that Lancer used to hold onto her staff. If he could cut that off, or at least break it, he would be severely weakening Lancer.

To the Servant of the Shadows surprise, however, his weapon didn't meet flesh and blood. It merely distorted the illusion of Lancer that hung in the air, like some sort of illusion. _'What?!' _Assassin thought in surprised shock.

"Boruto (Volts)!"

Assassin screamed as thousands of volts poured into his body, courtesy of the staff pressed onto his back. He crumpled to the ground in severe pain, still screaming, as the lightning arced over his body, scorching everything. What was worse, though, was to come after. Lancer swung her staff at his spasming, post-electrocution sensitive body and sent him careening forward. He crashed into a soft, fluffy wall, slid down it painfully, and groaned.

It felt as if Thalia had used him as target practice for her Electrokinesis.

When Assassin finally overcame the pain, he gave a start; walls weren't supposed to be _soft_ and _fluffy_! Realizing it as some sort of trap, he tried to move only for the supposed "wall" to react to his movements. It seemed to grow as it wrapped around him, cocooning him in what he saw to be some sort of cloud. _'Lancer...'_

"How do you like my Mirukī Torappu (Milky Trap), you jerk?" Lancer asked with a smirk on her face and with her hands planted on her hips. "Comfy, _right_?"

"After that shock, yes." Assassin said.

Saber—free of her shadowy bindings—stepped forward beside Lancer. "Thank you, Lancer. It seems that I underestimated this Servant."

And she had. Assassin fought by sealing off a place and then sending minions out to weaken his enemies. Saber had probably thought that, because of this, Assassin was weak in close-combat. While that was technically true, Assassin _could_ fight if he wanted to. With his unique fighting style—shadow travelling to sneak up on enemies and his Umbrakinesis—he was hard to fight.

If Lancer hadn't suspected that he would've snuck up behind her and then left an illusion in her place... she wouldn't have been able to surprise him like she had. Lancer seriously doubted that someone as sneaky as the Servant appeared to be would've been easy to fight, if the fight had gone on.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say that he _was_ Assassin." Lancer said, frowning at the captured Servant. Speaking of which... her Mirukī Torappu condensed around the Servant, squeezing him tighter than a full-grown boa constrictor. _'Let's see him say _that's_ comfortable!'_

Saber's eyes narrowed, "Yes. He operates in the shadows much like an Assassin would. He is also as sneaky and underhanded as I suspected an Assassin to be."

Assassin started to chuckle. It was kind of funny that Lancer and Saber thought they had him beat already. They might have beat him in their brief fight and captured him, but he was nowhere near done. It was also kind of funny that they thought he wasn't Assassin... at least, yet. Assassin could see some of the doubt in their eyes, fighting with the knowledge of his supposed death.

Was that crack from Saber supposed to be an insult?

"What's so funny?!" Lancer demanded.

Assassin smiled at her and said, "For one, you seem to think that I'm not Assassin. I. Am. Assassin."

Identical masks of shock and disbelief appeared on both female Servants' faces. The Servant that had started this whole thing was Assassin? But... that couldn't be possible! Assassin had died when he had faced Archer on the night before the battle on the docks.

"Say that we believe you're Assassin and that you somehow faked your death... why tell us now?" Lancer asked as she crossed her arms.

"I think it's fair, as you four will hardly survive this battle to tell the tale." Assassin admitted before he quickly said, "Σκιές του υποκόσμου (Shadows of the Underworld)."

Mere seconds later, every shadow within the building seemed to shudder before they suddenly surged towards Assassin. Lancer and Saber stumbled as the shadows, becoming as tangible as Assassin's monsters had been, made them keep moving to stand upright. It didn't distract them for long, but it was long enough for Assassin to escape the grasp of Lancer's Mirukī Torappu.

The shadows wrapped around Assassin as he emerged from the ground, quickly concealing him from view. Light poured in from the front of the building as the shadows were removed, revealing that, not only was Assassin being covered in shadows, he was _growing_.

* * *

(Fuyuki City)

"Shit's getting real!" Caster laughed.

The Servant of Magic had barely returned from her "errands" when the news that Uryuu was watching began to talk about the Hyatt Hotel. Curious herself, she had decided to go to the hotel herself. If something tragic was going to happen... it would be easy for her to take out and absorb the prana from the "survivors". She had been disappointed to find that everyone had been evacuated, but happy when the building began to come down.

A couple minutes later, what looked like a completely black giant had suddenly burst out from a building. Four dots, two of which Saber could tell were Servants, emerged from the wreckage and put down the other two "dots" down safely. Then, the two Servants launched themselves towards the shadow giant.

Still, despite the fact that the attack on the hotel and the beginning battle would've amused her, Caster found herself growing angry. She hadn't realized it at first, but she was beginning to. She had encountered or had seen all of the current Servants in action... bar Assassin, who was supposed to have _died_. It seemed, though, that, like that other fucking shadow-manipulator, Assassin was _alive_.

It ticked her off to no end.

Caster's fingers gripped her flute so tightly that her knuckles turned white. _'I should go down there and make sure that prick fucking _dies_...' _She took a step forward and then paused. _'If I go now... the prick may use the opportunity to escape...'_ And she could take out the survivors of the battle should she wait... "Fine. I'll fucking _wait_."

* * *

**A/N: Author's Note: **Well, that's the end of "Beat the Drums". We see that Assassin has more than enough tricks up his sleeve, saw how Kayneth thought he was safe, saw the beginning of the destruction of the Hyatt Hotel, saw that there are some feelings between Rider and Waver (only to have it interrupted), and got a brief appearance by Caster.

So, how will things turn out? Will Kayneth survive? Will Rider and Waver manage to save him? Will they decide to head over and stop the "Shadow Giant"? Will Assassin win his fight and kill either Lancer or Saber or will he lose? Will the Mages Assosciation and the Church cry over Assassin's actions?

Find out, next time... on Fate: Chaos!

If you liked it, review~! Reviewing helps motivate my autistic self into working more. Options of reviewing: state your opinions, tell me how I did, thoughts about the characters, was it realistic enough, and how I could improve the chapter.


	11. An Ending and a Beginning:

Disclaimer: I don't really own anything.

* * *

Legend:

"Someone is talking."

_'Someone is thinking.'_

"A technique is being used."

* * *

An Ending and a Beginning:

* * *

(Fuyuki City—Shinto District)

Assassin had known he was taking a gamble when he had chosen to use his Noble Phantasm as openly as he was. Some would have called it stupid as well and Assassin wouldn't argue with them. In the back of his mind, he thought it was kind of stupid too. The thing was, though, he didn't really _care_ about if was stupid or not: he just wanted revenge.

He had been told, multiple times, that holding a grudge was his fatal flaw. In his world, fatal flaws were mental of physical weaknesses that demi-gods, humans, or immortals had. These flaws could, and often had led to the downfall of many beings and were particularly dangerous to demi-gods. Some flaws Assassin knew of included vanity, hubris, reckless ambition, greed, inferiority, and his own flaw, like all of his other "siblings" was holding grudges.

And Assassin had a new grudge: Lancer. He was still miffed about how she had prevented him from killing Saber and then shocking him. Sure, he had recovered from the attack, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was crushing Lancer and then Saber. Even if that meant using the most noticeable ability his more versatile Noble Phantasm allowed him to use.

Also, Assassin was sure that this incident would be played off, somehow. It was getting dark and the street the former Moon Spring Spa building was located in had a few seedy-looking bars. So, the witnesses would likely be labeled as "hallucinations" of the drunken men and women. That was fine by him.

Assassin watched as Saber and Lancer safely deposited their Masters a safe distance away from the soon to-be battleground. It was a nice sentiment, to try and prevent their Masters from getting hurt, but it wouldn't work. It never worked that way.

* * *

_'Why am I not surprised that _Assassin_ of all people could transform into a giant monster?'_ Saber thought with a small eye twitch as she and Lancer rushed away from Assassin with their "Masters" being carried, bridal-style.

It seemed that, in this war, things came in pairs of two. First were the faux twins of Rider and Lancer; long orange-colored hair, near identical skin-tones, long-rang fighters, and a horrible "fashion sense". And now there was another giant monster to complete the monster pair. If Assassin was as tough as that worm-like creature was, though, remained to be seen. She hoped not.

Both she and Lancer stopped running, having judged that they were far enough away from Assassin, and quickly placed their "Masters" on the ground. "Stay around this area Irisiviel," Saber warned with Lancer repeating her words, only to Sola-Ui.

"I will."

"Let's go, Lancer." Saber said.

Lancer gave a resolute node before the two female Servants began running towards Assassin. With their speed and agility, it was easy for them to weave around and/or avoid the screaming flood of panicked citizens running past them. When the two of them were only a couple hundred feet away from Assassin, the Servant of the Shadows pointed his hand at them. A bus-sized sphere of black energy formed on it before it was fired towards them.

"Shit."

The area in front of Saber and Lancer _exploded_. As close to it as they were, neither female Servant had a chance to dodge and, as a result, they were quickly caught up within it. Fragmented slivers of asphalt assaulted their frames like miniature knifes even as their bodies _burned_ from the intense heat. Despite being near the edge of the explosion, it felt like they were in the center of it; the damage they were sustaining was equal to the damage they would've sustained in a regular explosion.

Still, Saber and Lancer were Heroic Spirits; an attack like that couldn't take them down, so easily.

So, a couple moments after they had been engulfed in Assassin's attack, both female Servants jumped out of the mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke. Their clothes, hair, and skin were ruffled and burnt while numerous small scratches, from the asphalt fragments, stood out like angry red lines.

"He's going to pay for that." Lancer growled.

Saber didn't get a chance to respond before she spotted several more of Assassin's bus-sized spheres rocketing towards them. And, not wanting to get caught within another explosion like that... She barked, "Evasive maneuvers!"

Instead of listening to her order—which rankled Saber—Lancer used her left hand to grab onto the tan pouch attached to her left thigh. "Dorobō no pōchi (Thief's Pouch)!" The pouch opened by itself as Lancer released a good-sized amount of prana into the air, making Saber's eyes widen slightly. "Nusumu (Steal)!"

A miracle happened.

Assassin's spheres seemed to freeze in mid-air before they suddenly zoomed towards Lancer's pouch. One by one, each sphere entered the pouch until all of them were gone. Throughout this brief time period, Saber could only stare at her temporary ally and feel her respect for Lancer's skill as a warrior going up. When they would fight in the future, it would be legendary.

"Thought I was just a weather manipulator, huh?" Lancer asked with a grin, having seen Saber's surprised look. "I would say that weather manipulation is my best skill... but I was known for my skills as a thief long before Ussop made the first version of my Clima-Tact."

_'Ussop?'_ Saber thought, frowning at the odd name.

"You talk too much." Assassin muttered as his shadow appeared over the two female Servants. Lancer may have absorbed his attacks, but they had been meant as a diversion. The true purpose behind attacking with them was to distract his opponents and crush them, crush _Lancer_.

* * *

(Meanwhile—With Rider)

At the moment, one could find Rider zooming through the corridors of the Hyatt Hotel as it fell, looking for anyone still inside. An ordinary person would consider this suicide, but it wasn't so to someone like Rider. Especially considering that she was using an additional Noble Phantasm; High Speed.

High Speed was a Noble Phantasm that dramatically increased her speed, based around the "legend" of her breaking the sound barrier. To others, it would seem like a pretty useless Noble Phantasm... but it made Rider practically impossible to catch when she was using it. How could one catch something moving at speeds that their eyes couldn't see? How could they defeat something that could deliver numerous crushing blows before in the time it took them to raise a guard?

The answer was simple: they couldn't.

Unless they had trained to fight opponents moving at her speed, it was unlikely they would have the skills to defeat her. Still, despite how confident this would seem to make Rider, she never boasted about it. She also rarely used it in battle, preferring to use it for pleasure instead of business. Why taint such a wonderful ability with fighting?

Rider was using High Speed right now because she had no other choice but too. Neither she nor Waver knew if anyone was still inside the Hyatt and, if so, where they were. So, she was using High Speed to check each room, cupboard, and closet while looking for anyone still inside. So far, she hadn't found anyone... but she had found something _interesting_.

It seemed that a powerful Master had used this hotel as his or her base for the Holy Grail War. Nothing else would explain the extensive magical protections she had broken through or simply avoided with the immense speed that High Speed granted her. She was growing to respect the caster of the protections, whomever he or she may be, as it would take a boat-load of prana to keep all of this up. Add to that the cost of maintaining a Servant... it was a miracle that the Master in question hadn't burnt out yet.

_"Have you found anyone yet, Rider?"_ Her Master asked via the "Walkie Talkies" he had purchased earlier today. The tiny devices were interesting to Rider as they had reminded her a bit of her own world's communication methods, but _much_ simpler. That didn't stop her, however, from messing with them to increase the range of the Walkie Talkies.

Rider pressed the button on her Walkie Talkie as she punched through the ceiling above her to get to the next floor, "Not yet, Master. I did find, however, that a Master has been using this hotel as his or her base. His or her presence was probably the reason for the attack..."

_"... Rider, we have a problem."_

"What is it, Master?" Rider asked as she began flying through the current floor's various protections. The speed she was moving at made it easy to avoid the creatures that would've attacked and/or restrained her and her keen eye sight allowed her to see some sort of portals, which she avoided. The invisible weaponry was new, and managed to get a few good cuts in, before she began to blast whatever was ahead of her with her gun.

If there was a problem, she needed to get out of the hotel as soon as possible. And, as she couldn't go back because of some sort of Bounded Field, the only option was to go forward. Still, it shouldn't be too hard to break through to the outside after she got through this level's protections.

_"I think that the attack on the hotel may have been staged or draw us out. Not us specifically, but... A hotel of that size should have had numerous civilians inside of it, yet you've found none. That means either that there was no one in the hotel in the first place or that everyone was evacuated already."_ Her Master said.

Rider's frowned slightly, "I see what you're saying Master. This whole situation might have been designed as a trap."

_"I think it was. Also—HOLY SHIT!" _Her Master screamed as what sounded like an explosion happened in the background. _"Someone's summoned a black giant! And it fired a huge burst of energy that _leveled_ half a block!"_

Rider's eyes narrowed before she punched through the last protection, on this floor, before flying out of the hotel through a nearby window. She zoomed upwards to where her Master was flying in her P-51 Mustang and looked downwards. There, near the river of Fuyuki's Shinto District, was a black giant. As Rider and her Master watched, the giant released a series of black spheres from its hand, towards the ground.

_'It's obviously a battle between Servants.'_ Rider thought as she watched the spheres stop in mid-air before surging forward again. It was interesting to note that, instead of exploding, the spheres grew smaller and then vanished altogether. She wondered, _'But _who_?'_

* * *

(Fuyuki City—Tohshaka Manor)

Reclining in a high-backed leather chair inside his Master's study, Archer was looking at the book in his lap. He would have been reading it, but found no interest to at the moment. He was more concerned with the fact that the Fourth Holy Grail War was beginning.

The previous three skirmishes between the Servants so far could be categorized under "preparation" or a simple "testing of the waters". For example, his battle against Assassin could be classified under the preparation, as it had laid the foundation for Tokiomi's plan. The other two battles had been a mere testing of the waters, fueled by the anticipation and nerves of this war's participants. In the end, though, all that those battles had done was to showcase the ability of this war's Servants.

There was no doubt that this war's Servants were Heroic Spirits, even if he and Tokiomi had yet to uncover their true identities. Also, there was no doubt that each one of them was powerful. Still, Archer was sure that he could defeat the others or, if the opportunity presented itself, strike down one of their Masters. As it was, though, he was being restricted to the Tohshaka Manor.

Archer could understand Tokiomi's strategy—conserve their strength while the other Servant/Master pairs fought and swoop in to take out the survivors—but that didn't mean he had to like it. Especially since that plan meant that Kirei and Assassin would have to make a move. He didn't trust either one of them.

From the brief encounters Archer had with the Servant of the Shadows, he had found Assassin to be a quiet introvert. He seemingly shied away from conversation, preferring more to stand aside and watch as others talked. Once, when left alone during one of Kirei and Tokiomi's meetings before the war, Assassin had fallen asleep... which Kirei had admitted was something that Assassin did a lot. Still, despite how Assassin appeared, he was a great fighter.

That Kirei was Assassin's Master was very bad. Assassin wouldn't object to any plan that Kirei had. Kirei bothered Archer. The reason was clear: the man reminded him too much of a combination of Ulquiorra Cifer and Sosuke Aizen. Archer could see a shadow of Ulquiorra's nihilism in Kirei's expression, and the way he talked, but he had a keen mind to rival that of Sosuke Aizen. While Kirei had yet to deviate from Tokiomi's plan, Archer knew it was only a matter of time.

And with Tokiomi believing that he had everything under control and that Kirei would never turn against them... they would both be caught unaware when Kirei finally make his move. Just like all of Aizen's enemies had been when he had revealed his treachery or that he had planned and counted on the mission to retrieve Orihime.

_Orihime_...

Archer clenched his hands together and sucked in a deep breath. He shoved down the memories and emotions that threatened to break through the wall he had shoved them behind. It only worked somewhat, as they still lurked at the edges of his mind, but no longer threatened to overwhelm him like before.

Tokiomi looked up from the text he was reading himself, having felt the weight of Archer's eyes upon him. Instead of locking gazes with Archer, he saw the Servant of the Bow turning back to the book in his lap. _'Strange...'_ He thought before dismissing it as unimportant.

* * *

(Lancer and Saber vs. Assassin)

"Hanashi (Release)!" Lancer shouted as Assassin's foot descended towards her and Saber. She would have preferred to dodge than to do this and reveal another ability to Saber, but she had little choice. The surprise of Assassin's sudden movement, and the speed of his foot, would make it impossible to dodge.

So, when Assassin's foot was only two meters above her and Saber's heads, Lancer unleashed the attack she had stolen earlier. Assassin's bus-sized spheres rocketed out of her Dorobō no pōchi. Seconds later, Assassin's foot connected with the first sphere. The sudden attack forced the foot to bend upwards, allowing the others to whiz up towards Assassin's legs and upper torso.

Assassin had no time to react to this so he was hit multiple times in the stomach and legs with his own attack. The power behind it wasn't enough to damage his shadow construct that badly, considering that the spheres were made out of the same energy as his construct, but it did force him to fall backwards. His back and shoulders flattened the buildings he then fell into as well as uplifting an enormous amount of dust into the air.

_'She got me again...'_ Assassin thought in frustration.

Not only had Lancer stopped him from killing Saber in the Moon Spring Spa, she had now turned his own attack against him. From a strategic standpoint, he could see the potential uses of such an ability, but he wasn't feeling very strategic at the moment. He was _pissed_.

So, when he felt Saber and Lancer rushing over his downed construct's legs, he reacted. Honestly, Assassin had forgotten why he had decided to use his Noble Phantasm to construct a construct of a giant he had slain in the past. He believed it was because he wanted to see the look on Lancer's face... but it was impractical. Especially considering that Lancer and Saber had already faced another giant monster during the course in this war.

Now, though, he was really angry. From that red-blooded rage, adrenaline, and the need to utterly destroy Saber and Lancer. He took a deep breath before he took a firm hold on the shadows that made up his construct's body. Seconds later, his construct began to break apart and reform into five foot-long, pitch-black blades.

For Saber and Lancer, it was as if the _air_ around them had turned against them. The two female Servants had been planning on attacking a specific area on Assassin's chest that had been weakened by Lancer's release of her stolen attack, hoping to attack before Assassin had time to recover. By doing that they had hoped would cause Assassin's Noble Phantasm to collapse so that they could "fight him properly". They had barely gotten to the Assassin's waist when things went south.

Assassin had felt them coming and had transformed the shadows covering him into blades that then attacked them from all sides. The sudden attack had caught them off guard and unprepared, leading them to taking an increasing number of hits that left deep gashes and cuts all over their bodies. Due to her armor, Saber was faring better than Lancer—who's hair now only reached her ears and had taken a sword to the shoulder—but not by much.

As it was going, it would only take a few more minutes before both Saber and Lancer died. That suited Assassin just fine, so he kept up the barrage. It might have left him unprotected, which his giant construct had made up for in spades, but he could deal with that. Neither of Saber or Lancer would be able get out of there to attack him before they died.

That was when two things happened at once. The first thing that happened was that Saber somehow created a burst of wind that threw back the blades attacking her and Lancer. The second was that a fully grown, grey Cyclopes-like fist crashed into Assassin's gut, hurling him backwards even as a small spray of blood flew out of his mouth.

Eyes wide, Assassin crashed into the side wall of the store known as Anime World. A spider-web of cracks formed when he hit it before he began to slide down the wall, chest heaving as he fought to get the air back in his lungs. What in the name of Hades had just happened?

"I'm tired of waiting for any of you shit-heads to finish this battle!" A furious, foul-mouthed, voice shouted.

The three wounded Servants turned in the direction where the voice had come from. There, they saw the speaker was a pale-skinned woman with shoulder-length pink-colored hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a tan tunic, knee-length tan pants, black sandals, a black hat over her hair, and had a strange purple robe-like belt tied around her waist. In her hands was a silver flute which she held close to her lips.

It was not the woman who drew most of Assassin, Saber, and Lancer's attention, though. No, that honor belonged to the three ogre-sized creatures that surrounded the woman. One wore a dark green full-body suit and its hair covered its entire head and face. The second was shirtless and wore only black pants with numerous scars on its head. The last one had its upper body covered in bandages and wore brown pants. Its head was in an awkward position, with several needles pinned on it, and also lacked arms like the other two had.

Lancer spat a glob of blood and saliva onto the ground, "W-Who are you?"

"We appreciate your help—" Saber began to say.

"I didn't come to help you assholes." The mysterious woman interrupted rudely before pointing at Assassin. "I came here to kill that fucking shit-head over there. I would've left him alone to kill you, but he left himself open."

Assassin began to slip into his shadow so that he could escape to fight another day. While he didn't want to leave, especially with Lancer looking so close to death's doorstep, Caster seemed to have a grudge against him. He didn't want to fight an illusionist at the moment... especially considering that she had those three creatures with her that would attack him the moment he was caught in one.

It was not to be, though. The moment Assassin was a quarter into his shadow, he found himself caught within one of Caster's illusions. Despite knowing it was an illusion, however, it felt real... like he really was kneeling in some sort of desert, bound by thick black chains. Struggling against the bonds did nothing and only further made him disbelieve that this was an illusion. In fact, it only made the tip of his forefinger start to twitch before... _his skin on it began to melt._

He screamed.

On the outside, Saber and Lancer watched as Assassin suddenly froze in place before he began screaming. It confused both of them because, really, there was no reason for Assassin to start screaming. But, he had started screaming when the woman had begun to play her flute. Was the woman—Caster?—causing this? But, how? Neither had heard music to start making someone scream.

_'... Well, there is Appo...' _Lancer thought as her mind flashed back to one of the other members that had been a part of the "Eleven Supernovas", like her Captain had been. _'But he ate a Devil Fruit that allowed him to transform parts of his body into musical instruments and his attacks affected everyone around him... not just one person.'_

"I had thought that a Servant summoned for this war wouldn't resort to such cowardly tactics." Saber stated with an observable frown on her face. Also, besides how cowardly it seemed, it rankled her that another Servant would interrupt another Servant's battle. Such behavior was unfitting of a knight and made her question how much of a brute, or barbarian, the pink-haired woman was.

Lancer's eyes widened comically as the pink-haired woman turned flashing eyes towards her and Saber. In the next instant, the melody the woman was playing changed, becoming more fast-paced. The three ogre-like monsters snapped to attention before they _moved_. "Shit."

Despite what their size might have entailed, each of the woman's creatures were fast. They would outpace most Humans and Magus easily, and seemed just a tad bit faster than an ordinary Servant. In this situation, it meant that they were about as fast as Saber regularly was. And with everything seeming to be turning into a three-on-one battle—as Lancer couldn't fight in her condition and Assassin was incapacitated—that was bad.

Saber's invisible sword clashed in a series of sparks with an overhead swing of the one monster's metal club. The force behind the creature's blow was enough to make Saber grimace as it had made her arms ring with it as well as push her back a couple inches. Hearing another monster approaching from behind, Saber tilted her blade and allowed the first's club to slide down the shaft. She then quickly brought her sword out from underneath the club before jumping to the side. This resulted in the collision of the first two monsters, where the stitched-on arm-blades of the second bit into the first monster's chest.

That just left the third.

It attacked with a flurry of quick-footed movements that attempted to knock the Servant of the Sword off her feet. Despite being on equal footing in regards to speed, Saber was much more agile then the creature, which allowed her to dodge or parry most of its attacks. The strange thing about it, though, was that it didn't seem to feel any pain when she blocked its bare-footed feet with Excalibur. She could see she was inflicting wounds with each block... but it wasn't slowing in the least.

A club to the back was avoided as Saber leaped to the side, nearer to Assassin, causing the club to collide with the ground in a shower of earthen debris. Saber then had to use Excalibur to block the arm-blades of the second monster. It seemed stronger than its compatriot as it was able to force her backwards, into the way of the approaching third monster. The second monster descended from above, club reading to smash Saber's head in.

Saber clutched Excalibur tighter and breathed. In the next instant, Invisible Air expanded like a balloon. Doing this would ordinarily mean she was about to form a defensive barrier around herself. Right now, however, she was using it as a powerful gust of wind. She believed that, by doing it this way, she could knock away all three of Caster's creatures in one blow. It wouldn't save her for when the things recovered, unless she decided to anchor it to an area around herself, but it would give her some time to breath.

Fortunately, it seemed that was how it was going to happen. Saber's unexpected expansion of her Invisible Air forced all three of Caster's creatures backwards. Skidding alongside the ground, they picked up additional wounds, but without making any note of them. Still, it only took one look into Caster's irritated eyes to tell you how she felt about what had just happened.

_'Fucking bitch. She was supposed to be the weak one here!' _Caster thought with a scowl. That had been a perfectly good play—draw Saber away from Lancer and then box her in—but it seemed as if Saber was more than just a swordswoman with a shitty Kaze no Yaiba.

Speaking of the orange-haired bitch, it seemed as though she had decided to retreat. The fucking blonde had yet to notice it as she was still dealing with her Doki, but she would sometime soon, if she expected Lancer to come to her aid. What happened after that point remained a mystery to Caster, but she hoped that she could take advantage and finally end Saber so she could deal with the shit-head shadow manipulator.

Still, even with her growing hatred of Saber, Caster had to admit that the girl was good. Using a shitty Kaze no Yaiba probably helped the bitch a lot, but... Saber had the skill of an expert swordswoman, unlike that shit-head from Sunagakure no Sato. The bitch had also seemed to have trained to increase her speed and agility, as no one her size could be able to keep up with _one_ her Doki. Against all three, it should have been impossible, but the bitch was doing it.

Despite how it seemed to Caster, Saber wasn't having an easy battle. For the first time since this war had started, she had been able to display the full extent of her swordsmanship. She had to. If she didn't do anything less than perfect, one of those infernal creatures would manage to slip through her guard and disable her. And then Caster would finish her off.

As a knight, Saber couldn't allow that as that meant she would be leaving Irisiviel unprotected. Doing that would also mean she had failed as a knight to fulfill the only order her Master had ever given her: protect Irisiviel. So, no matter how tired or injured she might become, the Servant of the Sword could not allow Caster to best her. Irisiviel's fate, and her honor as a knight, would be forfeit, then.

So, Saber pressed on. She used every ounce of her skill to avoid, block, or parry Caster's three monsters. It wasn't easy by any means, but it allowed her to display the reason why that she was best summoned under the Saber class despite the fact she could've been summoned as a Lancer or a Rider. The reason? She defined the word "expert swordswoman".

Every move Saber made with her sword looked picture perfect, even if some of the moves had been improvised. With the speed she delivered these moves combined with the deceptive strength her small body possessed and the effortless way she flowed from one move to another... It was no wonder she had been made into a knight. Still, even with this skill, she was finding herself hard-pressed.

She _had_ considered using Excalibur to destroy Caster's creatures, but there was no evidence to suggest that Caster couldn't bring them back. If she could, then doing so would unnecessarily reveal her identity. That would then allow the other Servants and Masters to begin coming up with strategies as to how to defeat her and Excalibur... No, it was better left that she only use Excalibur if she had no other choice _but_ to use it.

Just when Saber—sweating heavily with her armor dented in numerous places, in addition to her previous wounds—was about to be hit in the back, a miracle occurred. The monster responsible, and its weapon, suddenly froze. It then rocketed off its own accord towards the opened pouch that a newly arrived, and healed, Lancer was holding in mid-air.

Saber almost collapsed in relief. While she had been able to hold off Caster's monsters, doing so had left her in an exhausted state. That was made worse by the knowledge and phantom-pains from the earlier battle at the Moon Spring Spa. So, despite being angry at how Lancer had cowardly left the battlefield without even attempting to tell her, she was grateful to see her. Using her Noble Phantasm to take away one of Caster's three monsters helped, of course.

Caster's remaining monsters shuddered to a halt as Caster's music suddenly cut off. Turning towards the Servant of Magic, Saber saw that she had lowered her flute from her mouth. Her face was twisted into a snarl, glaring daggers at Lancer even as a palpable aura of pure _malice_ seeped from her skin. It was obvious she was pissed and why: Lancer had arrived and captured one of her creatures.

"How dare you steal one of my Doki, you bitch?!" Caster demanded angrily.

Lancer smirked, "It wasn't that hard to do. But, you would find it difficult to understand, foul-mouth." She pointed her pouch at the two remaining "Doki" and said, "Thanks for making them an easy target, Caster~..." Caster's flute flew to her lips even as her eyes widened, but it was already too late. "Nusumu (Steal)!"

Caster could only look on in shocked anger as her two remaining Doki were taken away by Lancer. She gnashed her teeth and clutched her fingers tight around her flute, ready to unleash a Genjutsu that would rip apart the two bitches' minds. But only after she had tortured them and made them beg her for mercy would she break their pathetic little minds. Yes... that would be _excellent_.

"Mateki:—Ghrk!" Caster began to say as she prepared her Genjutsu.

Caster was interrupted, however, when a pitch-black blade erupted from her the front of her stomach. She looked down with wide eyes at the stained blade: the blade stained with her blood. How—How was that possible?! She had that shit-head under her Genjutsu for over twenty minutes! How could he still be sane let alone come up with a plan to sneak-attack her?! It was impossible! No one had ever survived for that long!?

"It surprised me for a little while... but my Ύπνος Θάνατος allows me more than simply resisting death." Assassin growled into Caster's ears from behind the pink-haired woman's body. His hands were clutched around the blade he had stabbed her with, driving it even deeper. "How does it feel? Painful, _right_?"

_"Assassin. Return with Caster _now_."_ Kirei voiced.

Assassin's eyes narrowed slightly, _'Why should I bring Caster with me? She'll likely die from blood loss before I can arrive there. Even if she does, she'll trap me in another of those fucking illusions of hers. Just because I can negate the events with Ύπνος Θάνατος, I still can't escape them until she's dropped the illusion, Master.'_

_"I have a proposition for her."_

"You b-bastard..." Caster coughed as blood began to flow down the sides of her mouth. "You utter _bastard_..." An unseen black mark glowed a bright red on Caster's neck before it began to spread across her skin. "I'll fucking kill you for this!"

_'... Fine.'_ Assassin thought, having not noticed the mark. Seconds later, he and his unwilling prisoner began to descend into his shadow. _'If she attempts to attack me or stick me in one of those illusions again, I won't be held responsible for my actions.'_

"Where do you think you're going?!" Lancer demanded, pointing her Clima-Tact at Assassin's head. After all that crap Assassin had put her through, she was not about to allow him to get away so easily. "This battle isn't over yet!"

"Unfortunately, Lancer, it is. Don't worry, though... I'll be back to kill you two later."

With that, Assassin and Caster dropped into Assassin's shadow and were gone. One of Lancer's Boruto Inazuma ripped through the space his head had been only moments before, igniting and causing the area it struck to explode. Lancer grabbed at her hair and pulled as she cursed, pissed off. After all that Assassin had done today, the prick was going to_ get away_? Unacceptable! She should just—

Sirens began to wail in the distance.

"Damnit!" Lancer shouted.

* * *

(Fuyuki City—Kariya's Apartment—Bedroom)

When Berserker had got back to the apartment, he had mechanically gone ahead and cleaned up. The table was wiped down, the dishes dried and put away, the living room was dusted, the kitchen was cleaned, Kariya's laundry was started, and the living room floor was vacuumed. It didn't do that much, as he had already thoroughly cleaned the place a few days before and it hadn't gotten that dirty in the days since. No, he did it in an attempt to distract his mind from the recent elevations concerning Kariya and the Matou Family.

It didn't work.

So, now, Berserker was standing in the entryway to Kariya's room. He looked at the white-haired man sleeping fitfully on the bed—tossing and turning—and noted the faint specs of blood staining his comforter. To think that this man would give up and risk his own life, even if there was no guarantee that he would be able to save Sakura... If Berserker had anything to say about Kariya, it was that the man was a hero.

_'But, the heroes can't always win...' _Berserker thought to himself, remembering his own failings. If he had been smarter, or faster, or stronger... maybe then he could have known, or stopped, what the Brotherhood of Evil had planned. _'Maybe then... they wouldn't have died. Maybe _she_ wouldn't have died...'_

It was his wish, you know? He wanted to go back before the Teen Titans had ever heard of the Brotherhood of Evil. He wanted to stop those assholes before they even begun. If he did that, an entire _generation_ of young heroes and heroines wouldn't have died. And _she_ would still be alive.

And maybe, just maybe, they could have acted on the feelings that had always existed within them.

Berserker knew that she would never forgive him if he allowed this injustice to continue. But, as much as it hurt him, what else could he do? Zouken had seen to it that there were no ways, other than giving him the Holy Grail, that Sakura would be saved. He was stuck. Fulfill Zouken's demands and give him the grail, and free Sakura, or take the grail for himself and doom Sakura.

Heaven help them all.

* * *

_Kariya Matou felt weightless as he walked behind a group of five, staring at what seemed to be a younger form of Berserker. Despite the grin on Berserker's face, there was an solemn air about the group. From the glances that the older male and female of the group spared at Berserker... the solemn air had something to do with him. The question was what?_

_What had Berserker done?_

_Days seemed to zoom on by and Kariya learned the reason for the solemn looks and air about the group. Apparently, the group had just survived an attempt on their lives by an organization called the "Brotherhood of Evil". The older man, Mento, was upset that Berserker hadn't "done his job" by leaving them behind to die and "apprehend the brain". The other two males and the female were happy that Berserker had managed to do so much, especially with his difficulty in shape-shifting._

_Despite this, none of them ever spoke up as Mento relentlessly drilled with Berserker. The harsh way he did so left Kariya was a horrible taste in his mouth and a dry throat, sore from yelling at someone that would never hear him. Why couldn't they hear him screaming at them? Could they not see what he was pointing out? _

_Berserker, or "Beast Boy", was just a child! He shouldn't have to face a fully-grown adult with superhuman abilities of the mind! Not when said man looked like he was trying to kill Beast Boy! Couldn't they see? It was killing him!_

_It was a miracle that Beast Boy survived as the days flew past. But by doing so, he became stronger and stronger. Kariya could see why Mento was training him this way, as it seemed to be making Beast Boy improve by leaps and bounds, but Beast Boy had no other choice. If he hadn't improved, he would've died._

_And then Kariya watched, horrified, as Beast Boy get involved in the "missions" that his team were called in to do. It broke Kariya's heart to watch as the child he had gotten to know get involved in the world of adults. Taking part in stopping common robberies and thefts, helping the police on a semi-regular basis, fighting tights-wearing villains, and repeat. It was a viscous, never-ending cycle that was made worse by the fact that the villains the "Doom Patrol" caught were thrown in the same cells they had broken out of._

_Why put them in the same cells? Were there no counter-measures being developed against superhuman villains? It would be the least the police could do if they could keep the people that were brought to justice where they belonged? Was it that difficult? ... All the evidence was pointing towards the answer being "Yes"._

_There were many more encounters with the Brotherhood of Evil, with some being so close that Kariya almost had a heart-attack. He was sure that he had at least ten by now, but he couldn't be sure. Time passed so slowly at times and then sped away at others, making him forget about himself as he got involved with the life and times of the boy named Garfield Logan, renamed Beast Boy, and then Berserker._

* * *

**Servant:** Assassin.

**Identity:** Nico di Angelo.

**Series:** Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

**Theme Song: "**So Cold" by One Republic.

**Additional Classes:** Aside from the Assassin class, Nico has the skills to be summoned in the Caster class (due to his Geokinesis and Umbrakinesis), the Saber class (due to his skill with his Stygian Iron sword), and the Berserker class.

**Stats:**

**Strength: **D+.

**Endurance: **C.

**Agility:** D

**Magic: **D+.

**Presence Concealment: **A.

**Luck:** D.

**Personal Skills**:

**Divinity: **As the son of Hades, Assassin has a measure of divinity. C+.

**Guardian Knight:** When defending others close to him, Assassin can get a temporary boost in power. C.

**Noble Phantasms:**

1. Σκιές του υποκόσμου (Shadows of the Underworld): This Noble Phantasm is based on Assassin's legend as a shadow manipulator. By using it, he can take hold of any of the nearby shadows and bend them to his will, for a variety of effects. It is because of its versatility that it is Assassin's most used, and valuable, Noble Phantasm.

2. Σκιές του θανάτου (Shadows of Death): This is a Noble Phantasm that allows Assassin to create shadow constructs of all the people and monsters he faced in the past. It is noted, however, that the constructs he creates of the people he's faced are only an imitation of that person and possess none of that person's powers.

3. Ύπνος Θάνατος (Death Sleep): This is an ability formed on the legend of Assassin keeping death at bay while sealed in an unbreakable jar. By eating a pomegranate seed, he is able to enter the same "Death Trance" that he did then, which allows him to stay alive in the face of even the most grievous injury.

* * *

**A/N: Author's Note: **That's a wrap! And, boy, was this chapter fun to write. The conclusion of the Assassin vs. Saber and Lancer battle, being able to read about some of Archer's suspicions, seeing Lancer's second Noble Phantasm in action, seeing the power of Caster's Doki when compared to a Servant, and the beginning of the dream sequences.

The real question, though, is what happened to Kayneth? We all saw that Rider would've saved him, only to be called away. So, is he dead? Is he still alive? If so, how? It should have been impossible for him to survive, especially since Lancer was so far away.

Exciting news, guys! It seems that someone has recommended _Fate: Chaos_ on Tvtropes! I was shell-shocked when I heard the news from a friend of mine. I mean, it's such a huge honor... one that I never thought possible for somebody like me. So, being recommended... it meant a lot to me.


	12. Things Change:

Disclaimer: I don't really own anything.

* * *

Legend:

"Someone is talking."

_'Someone is thinking.'_

"A technique is being used."

* * *

Things Change:

* * *

(Fuyuki City—Mackenzie Residence—Guest Bedroom)

"Are you okay, Master?" Rider asked while looking at her Master's backside with a concerned expression. Ever since they had returned after failing to get to that other Servant battle before it had ended, her Master had been really quiet. Normally, it wouldn't have bothered her, but something seemed off. "Did I do something wrong?" He shook his head, the first sign that he was still listening to her. "Then what is it Master? I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong."

Waver didn't say anything for a moment. Just when Rider went to speak again, he began to talk. "You would think I would know what I was getting myself into. I mean, I knew it was supposed to be a war... and I knew that people would probably die in it." He let out a deep breath, "And they did. One of the other Masters is a serial killer; you can read about all the murders in the newspaper..."

"But this is the first time you've seen dead people." Rider stated, having caught onto what her Master was trying to say. Instead of replying, her Master swallowed and nodded. For the first time, Rider noticed that he was shaking a little bit. "Master—"

"If you're about to t-tell me that I should've expected this, then you don't need to waste your breath. I knew that this could happen and I... I thought I would be able to handle it. When I saw the medics pulling out their bodies from that building and those... those _body parts_ sticking out...!" Waver choked on a sudden lump in his throat. "If we had gotten their faster, then maybe—"

Rider's arms wrapped around Waver and pulled him close, silencing him for the moment. She looked down at him with al look he couldn't fully understand. "These things are never easy, Master. The first time anyone sees another person die, be murdered, or kills in self-defense is when that last shred of innocence is destroyed. In my time, I was a Flight Lieutenant of the United States of Liberion."

"Rider...?" Waver asked, confused.

"Master in my career, I have seen a lot of people die." Rider stated softly. "In the beginning, I was like you, Master. I kept asking myself "if I had done something differently, would they still be alive?". I believed that I could have and that belief hurt me deeply inside and outside. Soon enough, my superiors began to notice my suffering and helped me slowly deal with my feelings. Do you want to know what they said?"

"... What did they say?"

"They told me that I was being stupid." Rider admitted fondly, earning a look of surprise from her Master. "They told me that, even if I could have done anything differently, it was in the past. By continuing to torment myself over their deaths, I was mocking the sacrifices they had made."

Waver pulled back, black eyes suddenly furious. "So I'm just supposed to forget?!"

"No, you don't have to forget Master." Rider responded with a small shake of her head. "You just have to accept that what happened, however tragic it was, was in the past. Try to learn from what happened, and use that knowledge to prevent performing the same mistakes." She locked gazes with her Master. "And, most importantly, do not feel as if you caused their deaths unless you killed them, Master."

Waver broke away from Rider and quickly got off the bed before leaving the room. Rider stayed. While she felt like she should help him, she knew that her Master would need time to sort things out. She had stormed off, too, when her superiors had given her a similar speech. And, while it didn't completely fix everything then, it had been a major step to her figuring things out and accepting them.

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Shinto District—Uryuu Ryuunusuke's Apartment)

When he found that his master had left, Uryuu hadn't been too surprised. She often left the apartment at irregular times and could return minutes or even hours later. He never questioned her about where she went because, as her servant, he didn't need to know. All he had to know was what she usually liked to eat, how to make her bed, and the temperature she liked her water at. His master liked spicy foods, she liked her pillows fluffed and the covers tucked in, and enjoyed her bath water at 41°C.

Still, after seeing her leave before he went to work and having not returned even after he had come home, he was becoming a bit worried. He knew that his master was strong, but the news coverage revolving around that chemical gas dispersal downtown, and the subsequent mass hallucination and explosions, had him worried. What if his master had been downtown when it had gone off? Had she been downtown when it happened?

Was she okay?

To distract himself from his troubling thoughts, Uryuu went through his daily chores. He did the laundry, prepared his master's food for the next three days and stored it in the refrigerator, scrubbed the bathroom with a toothbrush, prepared his master's bed, and generally cleaned until not even one spec of dust remained. Once he was finished, he just stood there, in the middle of the living room, with the vacuum's cord in one hand and a troubled expression on his face.

What was he supposed to do now?

Uryuu stood there for a couple of minutes before retreating into the living room. Sitting down on the couch, he closed his eyes and tried to relax. His breathing deepened and his body relaxed as he slowly, ever so slowly, fell into a restless slumber.

XXXXXX

_When Uryuu next opened his eyes, he found himself floating above a pink-haired girl as she fought against another, black-haired girl. Well... it wasn't much of a fight. The pink-haired girl had somehow disabled her foe with a familiar, silver flute when the girl charged at her. After her foe had fallen to the ground, the pink-haired girl looked to someone standing behind Uryuu. Seeing those brown eyes startled Uryuu; making him float backwards even as his eyes widened._

_That... that was his master! _

_Before Uryuu could even hope to deal with the information, the space around him blurred. It stopped to reveal his master, now older, standing amongst three other figures clad in the same attire she usually wore. He followed their gazes down to see a man with long black hair talking to a man with bone-white hair and two red markings on his forehead. The man said something and the four jumped downwards to confront the white-haired man._

_Uryuu was really freaking out now. He didn't know what was going on or where he was. Why did that guy have six arms? How was that orange-haired guy ripping out the earth with his bare hands? What was his master doing with that flute and why did it feel so familiar? Did—Did that guy have two heads?! _

_Despite the four's obvious strength and skills, it wasn't enough. The white-haired man easily defeated them, one by one, until all of them were lying beaten and broken around his feet. The black haired man smiled at the other standing man before welcoming him as the leader of the "Sound Five"._

_"I don't understand!" Uryuu shouted. "What's going on! I don't—!"_

_Once again, time and space blurred together, stealing away the sound of Uryuu's final words. When it stopped, Uryuu found himself staring at his master standing on a tree branch, playing that silver flute, as three giant ogre-like creatures fought against a black-haired boy. _

_It was then that Uryuu slowly began to understand. His master was a fighter, only one that Uryuu had never heard of and with abilities. She was fighting to protect something that her leader—it was funny that someone as headstrong as her would follow somebody else—from the black-haired boy, Shikamaru, and his team. _

_He gained an appreciation for how strong his master really was as the battle continued and Shikamaru called her out on her strategy, allowing Uryuu to understand. His master was a long-range fighter who fought by controlling her Doki with the music from her flute. She could also change up the music to confuse enemies who had recognized her pattern, as Shikamaru had, and make her Doki even deadlier. She could even seem to paralyze and hurt people with her illusions._

_If she could do this, then that little spat downtown was nothing._

_Right when she had that shit-head cornered and was about to finish him off, she was knocked off by a sudden gust of wind. Luckily, the blast hadn't managed to do more than surprise her, so she had quickly recovered after landing on a nearby tree branch. Looking up, she then saw a blonde suna-nin with a metal fan held out in front of her. She demanded the name of the fool to dare interupt her, so she could put it on the bitch's tombstone, seconds before the bitch leveled the place with a B-ranked wind ninjutsu_

_After that, the blonde relaxed and turned around to tease the shadowy shit-head, believing her defeated. In reality, however, she had summoned her Doki as soon as she saw the attack coming towards her. She then used them to catapult her into the air and above the blonde's jutsu, to avoid the savage winds that leveled the forest around them._

_She landed on top of the single standing tree with a significant cushion of chakra, descending to kick the shit-head away from the bitch. Before the bitch could use another wind jutsu, she used one of her more deadly illusions to crush the bitch's mind. She smiled when the bitch crumbled like a rag dooll whose strings had been cut._

_"Did you honestly expect me to fall for such a trick? I'm not like you assholes!" Caster said as she resummoned her Doki and sent them down, towards the shit-head still recovering from her earlier kick. "I'm one of Orochimaru-sama's elite guards! Trash such as yourself can't measure up to me!"_

_However, instead of pulverizing the shit-head's body into paste, her Doki's blows passed straight through them. In an instant, she realized the shit-head below to be a clone. She then began to look around, wildly, while wondering where the bastard could've gone. Carefully, she pulled back her Doki so that they could defend her, only to freeze in place when she felt herself lose control over her body._

_"You piece of shit!" _

_"You're right in how that we don't measure up to you." The bastard said as he the blonde bitch—had she used a clone, too?!—emerged from the rubble underneath the tree. "To think, two pieces of "trash" beat one of Orochimaru's "eite guards"..."_

_"Fuck you!" Caster cursed._

_"You can handle her now, right?" _

_The blonde nodded, "Of course." Pulling out her fan, she quickly opened it before smirking up at Caster. Before the pink-haired woman could respond, she swung her fan and unleashed a gale of cutting winds up at her. "Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu (Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique)!"_

_Caster screamed the moment that the bitch's technique came in contact with her. It felt like thousands of tiny blades were tearing at her, ripping her up, and then spitting her out to tear at her again. She tried to escape it, but it was useless. No matter how much she struggled, she could not escape this._

_As she fell from her perch, Caster thought about how she had failed Orochimaru-sama. If she could be given one more chance... she would crush the bastard from the beginning and then leave to rejoin her beloved Orochimaru-sama's side. It was with this desire that she died, bleeding out before her torn-up body could hit the floor of the battlefield._

XXXXXX

"NO!" Uryuu surged up from his place on the couch, tripping over his legs and falling onto the floor. He ignored the dull pain that the action brought attend, instead, began to look around the room wildly. He wasn't in a forest; he was on the floor of his living room. And his master wasn't dead, only running an errand. Slowly sitting up, he placed a sweaty hand over his heart and closed his eyes, trying to breathe. "It was just a dream."

"Must've been a doozy then."

Uryuu's eyes snapped open at that voice, even as a strange mixture of relief and hope surged in his heart. There, leaning against his polished countertop, was Caster. She had an assortment of bruises, small lacerations, and a pink-tinged set of bandages wrapped around her chest. To Uryuu, who had just seen her dead, seeing her, even in her currently injured state, was a blessing.

"Master!" Uryuu cried as he jumped to his feet before kneeling in front of his master like a knight to his king. "I'm so sorry I wasn't awake to properly greet you upon your return and if I disturbed you. Please forgive my behavior, master."

Caster scowled, "I don't fucking care about that." Seeing him recoil a bit, she let out a derisive scoff before she looked upwards. "All I care about is if you obey me. As of now, you've proven yourself to be a loyal servant... so I'll keep your ass around."

"Yes, of course master. Thank you, master." Uryuu said in a hurried manner. "Do you require a bath?"

"Do I have to fucking tell you I want one, servant?" Caster demanded.

Uryuu quickly shook his head no and, after apologizing and getting permission to go, he left to go prepare his master a bath. Despite the tones his master talked in, Uryuu couldn't feel more grateful. His master wasn't dead. While she was injured, she would heal. Everything was going to be alright. And why shouldn't it have been? His master was super strong and smart. She could handle anything that came at her.

Hearing the water turn caused Caster to frown. It had been a really horrible day. If she hadn't chosen to attack those three assholes, then she probably wouldn't have wasted a significant portion of her stockpiled prana. And she wouldn't have been kidnapped by Assassin and...

_'I don't want to think of that fucking priest right now!'_

XXXXXX

(The Church—Basement)

Assassin kneeled in front of his Master, head bowed in obvious shame. "I'm sorry that I failed you, Master."

"No, you didn't fail me, Assassin." Kirei remarked, making Assassin look up at him in surprise as he decided to elaborate. "It wasn't your fault that there was more than one Servant. Even with that unexpected addition, you still would have defeated both Lancer and Saber if it wasn't for the arrival of Caster." He smiled, "It was quite impressive, considering the class this Holy Grail War has made you."

At Kirei's words, Assassin felt relief surge through him. It was a relief to finally, finally, prove himself to his Master after sitting stagnant for so long. That relief faded, however, at the mention Caster. _'That woman...'_ He thought with slitted, angry eyes. "Are you sure we can trust her?"

Assassin had a right to be angry at the pink-haired woman; the moment they had appeared in the basement of the Church, she had quickly forced herself off his shadow construct before attacking him. Instead of attempting to use illusions, however, she had directly attacked him. He had believed that she would be easy to defeat, considering that she had seemed to favor a long-range fighting style. He was proven wrong when her fist connected with his cheek and sent him flying backwards.

The Servant of the Shadows had quickly learned that, with those strange black markings on her skin, Caster's strength and speed had been greatly improved. Her fists were able to pulverize stone with a single punch and was able to move in a rapid blur. She had proved this by using these improved skills to own him during the first half of their battle.

Assassin had quickly turned the tide. No matter how strong Caster had become, she had reduced her chances of victory by not choosing to paralyze him with another illusion. Another disadvantage for the pink-haired Servant was that the basement was relatively dark. And the dark was Assassin's territory. Even with her skills, Caster had not been able to hold out against his Noble Phantasm within such a dark place. Instead of killing her when he had the chance, his Master had ordered him not to before coming down and revealed himself to the immobilized Servant.

Then, he had laid out their plan to the woman.

"I have discussed this with Tokiomi shortly before you managed to free yourself from Caster's illusion." Kirei let out a small sigh, looking away. "He was initially upset that I ordered such an attack without his approval, but we managed to work it out." He then turned back to Assassin, "Also, it's not a matter of trust."

"Then why did you have me let her go?" Assassin said, getting onto his feet. He had dealt with similar people who had failed to uphold their end of the deal or had stabbed him in the back. No matter how strange, it was his study as a Kirei's Servant to protect and alert him to such danger. "Caster could easily turn back on her word—"

"We never let her go." Kirei interrupted, earning a confused look from Assassin. "You see, while you were fighting Caster, Tokiomi sent over Archer."

Assassin's eyes widened in sudden understanding, "You're using him to find out who Caster's Master is."

"Of course."

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Holdiay Inn—Room #125)

Sola-Ui collapsed ontop of the crisp white sheets of her bed, eyes puffy and red-rimmed. Today was supposed to have been a day for her and Lancer to go out and relax. For the most part, it had. She had an enjoyable time at the Moon Spring Spa before Lancer had dragged her back to it so she could finally experience a massage. Instead of getting a massage, however, they were attacked by a horde of creatures that Assassin could somehow make.

It was a terrifying experience. Those things could move across the walls, slither with their bodies as flat as shadows, and were almost comparable to a Servant in strength. And, while Lancer had been able to keep most of them at bay, some of them were able to slip by. She had then had to fight them. It was hard and, if she and Lancer hadn't retreated when they had, she probably would've died. Being good at healing didn't matter much when you were under attack.

Just when she had thought she was going to die, Lancer had swooped in and they had both retreated. Sola-Ui had then been able to, finally, heal her wounds and start healing Lancer a bit. Shortly afterwards, they had heard a noise and had been joined by Saber and her Master. When they had agreed to a temporary truce, Sola-Ui had believed they had a chance of getting out of there and beating the Servant responsible.

Wrong.

It was only by Caster's arrival and subsequent attack on Assassin that had saved Saber and Lancer. She had been glad when Saber and Lancer had been able to turn the tides on Caster... before Assassin woke up, stabbed Caster, and kidnapped the pink-haired Servant. She and Lancer had to retreat as well because the police were arriving, preventing them from trying to go after Assassin and Caster.

All of that, however, paled in comparison to what she had found upon getting back to the Hynatt Hotel. Apparently, while she and Lancer were away, somebody had started fires on the bottom floors of the building before setting off a bomb to bring it down. Furthermore, when she had asked about it, the staff seemed confused about where Kayneth was or if he had been evacuated at all.

Knowing Kayneth, though, had quickly made her realize the most possible scenario. The staff had called him about the fires and told him that he needed to evacuate. He then would've told them something to assure them he was coming down, only for him to stay. He had too much faith in those protections of his and would've believed that they would protect him from the fire and whoever was responsible. Only, that hadn't happened. Instead of fire, his protections would have met with the force of a collapsing building.

XXXXXX

_After talking to the staff, Sola-Ui took Lancer with her to search through the rubble. If her theory was correct, then that meant that Kayneth was most likely dead and she would need to retrieve the Archibald family crest. If she didn't, then the Archibalds would come after her until she gave it up. What family wouldn't when all of the previous family heads had infused it with mage circuits?_

_Sola-Ui had been ready to accept the fact that Kayneth might be dead. She had been ready to deal with the corpse of a squashed man and remove his family crest and, hopefully, take the rest of Lancer's Command Spells. It was morbid, really, but she had experience dealing with corpses and sick people during her training in the healing arts. So, by simply viewing Kayneth as another thing to practice on, she could've gotten through this._

_Except for the fact that Kayneth wasn't dead. _

_Sola-Ui and Lancer had found Kayneth lying underneath ten feet of rubble in the place where "their" living room had been. The lower half of his body and his right arm had been crushed, his legs and lower torso possessing multiple stab wounds from the broken chair lying around him, and bleeding from his forehead, mouth, and a dozen other places. Still, despite the odds, he was still alive. That was evident in how he weakly looked up towards her as Lancer had removed the last of the rubble off his broken body._

_"S-Sola-Ui..." He coughed as blood trickled out of his mouth, "T-thank... god you're not... hurt."_

_What? Kayneth... wasn't demanding she heal him? And he was... happy that she wasn't hurt? That—That didn't make any sense! In all of their time together, he had never shown her that he ever cared about her and she him. He had always been bossing her around like a lowly servant. In return, she had been cold to him and had poked holes in any plan that he had come up with. So... why?_

_Why was he looking at her like that!?_

_"I know... we've had our... d-diffferences, Sola-Ui... but," Kayneth managed to say, smiling in spite of everything. "I... never wanted you... hurt... All I wanted... was to win... I thought that I... could show you by winning... that I could be..." He coughed, splattering the ground in front of him with rich red blood. _

_How he was speaking was touching something within Sola-Ui and making it twist painfully; like he was saying his last words. Kayneth had no need of speaking that way. She could heal him enough for Lancer to transport them to another area, where she would finish healing him there. But she needed him to stop talking and to conserve his remaining strength. _

___"Kayneth, stop. You—" Sola-Ui began to say._

___"If I had... listened to you... treated you b-better... then perhaps this wouldn't have... happened." Kayneth interrupted before lowering his gaze. "I was not... the man... you wanted... I realize that... now..." Another cough. More blood spilled onto the ground, trickling over to coat the sole of Sola-Ui's shoes. "And I'm... sorry... I'm sorry for yelling at you... I'm sorry, so sorry... that I could never tell you..."_

___"What? Kayneth?! Tell me what?"_

___Kayneth managed to move his left hand so that it was resting on Sola-Ui's right shoe, looking up at her with a sorrowfully tender expression on his bloodied face. "... I'm so... sorry that I... never told you... that I... I loved... you, Sola-Ui..."_

'What? He... loved me?' _Sola-Ui thought in stunned confusion, eyes wide Kayneth hadn't loved her... had he? But, he had always ordered and bossed her around. And gotten so, so very angry at her at times. A traitorous voice whispered in the back of her mind, pointing out that he had given her money to buy anything she wished, stayed in expensive areas to make her comfortable and impress her, and actually listened to her in regards to his plans. _

_So, maybe, it was possible that he had... that he had loved her._

_Sola-Ui was brought out of her revelation when she felt like her right foot had suddenly been plunged into liquid fire. She managed to hold in the pained sound that threatened to come from her lips and look downward. There, climbing up her leg alongside that feeling of liquid fire, were Kayneth's remaining Command Spells._

_"... I know that... it isn't enough... to make... up for... what I... did... but it should... be enough so that... you can win." Kayneth muttered slowly, weakly. He watched through his darkening vision as the Command Spells travelled across Sola-Ui's body, fighting until he saw them come to rest upon Sola-Ui's right arm. He stopped then and smiled, feeling his pained body slowly begin to relax. "... and live..."_

_Kayneth's body went limp._

_Sola-Ui stared at Kayneth's body with wide, horrified eyes. A sound began in her throat as a pressure began to build around and inside her heart. The sound rumbled up her throat as she fell onto her knees until, with the horrifying realization that the man that had loved her was dead, she started to cry._

XXXXXX

Shortly after Kayneth had died and she had managed to gather herself, Sola-Ui had ordered Lancer to retrieve Kayneth's body. Kayneth had already given her Lancer's Command Spells, but she would still need to get the Archibald family crest off him. She wouldn't do it until she got a hold on herself, but she also couldn't bear to see his body. With Lancer's secondary Noble Phantasm, they would be able to move the body and she wouldn't have to see it until she was ready.

When they had left the rubble, Sola-Ui had left the area before checking into another hotel under a different name. It wasn't the safest spot to stay in but, then again, it would only be temporary. She knew that whoever had set that bomb could as easily set another. She also knew that without Kayneth's protections, it wouldn't be as hard for other Masters or Servants to get to her. The less time she spent here, the better.

"Sola-Ui?" Lancer asked. Sola-Ui lifted her head from the mattress to see Lancer standing near the front of her bed. "Is there anything I can do?"

Sola-Ui was quiet for a moment. "... No. I just need to be alone for a while."

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—The Holy Church—Living Room)

"What were you thinking, Kirei?" Risei demanded as he stared at his son, steaming. "Mr. Tohshaka didn't order us to have Assassin attack, _especially_ in such a noticable manner. Do you know what I've had to do to clean this mess up?!"

Kirei stared at him for a moment before bowing his head, "I am sorry, father. It was not our intention to cause such problems. With Mr. Tohshaka and Archer's current plan of letting the other Servants and Masters battling each other out, it was left to Assassin and I to act in his stead. The attack today was supposed to have eliminated Lancer and her Master from the War; we didn't expect Saber and Caster to interfere."

Risei closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to contain himself. He knew of how Tokiomi was bunkering down behind his family's powerful Bounded Fields, so it wasn't unreasonable that he had given Kirei freedom in deciding when and where to attack with Assassin. It didn't help, however, that the attack had backfired to this extent. While he could forgive his son, it didn't make up for the fact that the other Masters would be coming for blood when they released he had been hiding an active Master in the Church.

"... You need to leave, Kirei. When the other Masters get wind of what's happened, they'll be coming for our blood." Risei said lowly.

"Father, are you thinking that they'll try and kill the overseer of the war and a former Master?" Kirei asked, looking up with a confused expression on his face.

"What are you talking about?" Risei asked. "The other Masters won't be fooled into believing that you aren't an active Master; certainly not with Assassin still running around."

Kirei didn't say a word. He just rolled up his left sleeve and bared his left arm for inspection. Instead of the three Command Spells that Risei had expected to see, his son's arm was bare. Risei goggled over the sight for a moment before looking upwards, straight into his son's eyes.

"What have you done, Kirei?"

* * *

**A/N: Author's Note:** That's a wrap, guys. I hoped you liked it. And, while primarily an "aftermath" chapter, some interesting things happened. Waver admitting he saw the human victims of Assassin's attack being taken away and dealing with that, Kayneth's death and Command Spell transferall, and small bits and pieces of Kirei and Tokiomi's new plan. What is to come? Who will be the first Servant to fall? Find out soon!

Also, before I close, I would like to give a special call-out to **The Infamous Man** and **Sharkteeth**, two people that have continued to provide wonderful suggestions and advice for the continuation of this story. I know, with my autism, that I would've have been able to do this (or make a compariibly good story) without their assistance. So, thanks guys! I really appreciate you helping me out!


	13. Things to Come:

Disclaimer: I don't really own anything.

* * *

Legend:

"Someone is talking."

_'Someone is thinking.'_

"A technique is being used."

* * *

Things to Come:

* * *

(Fuyuki City—Kotomine Church—Living Room)

Kirei was sitting on a couch, absently glancing at his left arm. Tokiomi had been furious to hear of the attack, but had understood why he had done it after discussing the matter. He had also talked to Tokiomi about what he was to do now, listening in as to how Tokiomi wanted him to salvage the situation. It had been a decent strategy, but one that would be tricky to pull off.

That was why they needed Caster. Her seeming prowess with illusions would be essential in pulling the plan off. While Assassin may have believed he was using Archer for his own ends, that was what he wanted his Servant to think he was doing. Assassin hadn't been accepting of the alliance between them and Tokiomi and his dislike for the other man had only grown after Tokiomi had bunkered down in his family's manor. Tokiomi had been informed of such and had come up with the idea to make Assassin believe that he was using Tokiomi.

As it stood, things were falling into place. Archer had followed Caster back to her current residence and discovered the identity of her Master: a non-magus civilian known as Uryuu Ryuunosuke. With this information, he and Tokiomi would be able to force the female Servant into following through with the plan. In addition, Tokiomi had worked out a way to use Assassin so as to make it appear that he had lost all of his Command Spells and wasn't a Master anymore.

The tricky part of the plan came from making the other Masters and Servants believe that Assassin had somehow ended the contract between them and had found a new Master. He knew that, already, Saber and Lancers' Masters knew or at least suspected that he was Assassin's Master. To convince them, he would have to present himself and bare his arm to show no Command Spells while arranging for Assassin and his new "Master" to attack again.

Still, something akin to excitement was building within Kirei. Within the near distant future, he may come into contact with Kiritsugu Emiya. A man who had travelled all over the world, tracking down and killing down Magus who had broken the laws set down by the Magus Association, risking his life time and time again. He was a man like Kirei in many ways but yet not which was a reason why Kirei wanted to meet him.

He had questions.

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Einzbern Manor)

"Why would he choose to act now?" Kiritsugu Emiya wondered as he overlooked pictures from Assassin's attack with a frown visible on his face. "It makes no sense: nowhere in his past records has Kirei Kotomine ever acted without a direct order from a superior. With Tokiomi beyond his Bounded Fields, it would've made sense for Kirei to have been put on stand-by as well. So, why...?"

"Perhaps Tokiomi is using Kirei and Assassin to act in lieu of himself." Maiya suggested.

Kiritsugu shook his head, "No. If that were the case, then Kirei and Assassin would have attacked in the middle or end of a battle and would have targeted the other Masters. Saber has reported that while Assassin tried to get rid of them with his shadow creatures, the brunt of his attack was focused on both Saber and Lancer. From that we can determine that the attack wasn't sanctioned by Tokiomi." He sighed. "And that leads us back to the "why"."

Silence descended on the room as both thought about the "why".

"From the observations of Assassin during the first battle of this war, we established that Kirei and Tokiomi were working together. With Kirei at the Church, it would be difficult in eliminating him to get rid of Assassin except in direct combat with him. Yet, instead of using Kirei and Assassin to his advantage, Tokiomi bunkered down in his family's manor." Kiritsugu muttered after a couple of moments, "Shortly afterwards, Assassin attacks Saber and Lancer at a spa before kidnapping Caster."

"None of those actions agree with their personality profiles or any of their known actions in the past." Maiya said.

Kiritsugu looked at the pictures for a couple of seconds, "Perhaps we have made an error in judgment, Maiya. Kirei Kotomine is not someone who would do things on a whim nor is Tokiomi one to allow him to. So, perhaps, Kirei wasn't the instigator of this attack." A pregnant pause. "It's possible that Assassin could have broken the contract between him and Kirei. While Assassins aren't known for their Independent Action, this Assassin has proved that he is different from other Assassins, so he could have had enough time in Independent Action to find another Master."

"That would explain Assassin's recent actions and why Tokiomi has gone beyond his Bounded Fields. He knows that he is safe there and that Archer repelled an attack from Assassin once and could believe Archer capable of doing it again." Maiya added in thoughtfully.

"While this is a viable theory, we need more evidence before we abandon the idea that Kirei is still Assassin's Master and go looking for another who may or may not exist." Kiritsugu said, "It may be that these recent actions were yet another ruse."

XXXXXX

(Later—Mackenzie Residence—Living Room)

"Are you alright, Waver-kun?"

Waver looked up from the book that he had been trying to distract himself with, and failing, to see the concerned visage of "his" grandmother. He looked back down again, "I'm alright, Obāsan."

"Are you sure? You didn't eat as much of your breakfast as you usually do, Waver-kun." Martha said as she moved to take a seat next to Waver. Once there, she put a hand onto his shoulder. "Waver-kun... you know that you can tell me and your Glen-Ojīsan if anything is wrong, right?"

Waver didn't say anything. What was he supposed to say to her? Was he supposed to say that he used Memory Manipulation to make both Martha and Glen believe that he was their grandson, come to visit them? Was he supposed to tell her that he was one of seven Magus chosen to fight in the Holy Grail War? That Rider wasn't actually a "friend from school" and instead the Servant he summoned to fight for him? That—?

"Is about what happened yesterday, Waver-kun?" Martha asked with a knowing look on her face. "The terrorist attacks?"

It had been horrible when she and Glen had heard about the attacks on the news. They had spent a couple of hours wondering and worrying if Waver and Rider had been near the attacks or had gotten hurt. To distract herself, she had cleaned the house and then started cooking when she couldn't clean anymore. Through that time, Glen simply sat in his chair and watched the television for any new news. When Waver and Rider had come home—just before she finished making apple pie for desert—they had been so relieved that they were safe.

Waver startled a bit before lifting his head to look at Martha, "I-I..." What was he supposed to tell her? Somehow she had hit the nail on the head and would now expect him to tell her so she could make it better. And, honestly, even though she wasn't his real grandmother... he wanted to feel better. So, he nodded and said "Yes."

Soon enough, Waver found the story pouring out of himself. How he had been walking through the park with Rider and had seen the Hynatt Hotel in flames, watched it crumble down, and had thanked god that all of the people had been evacuated. How they had seen something going on down the street and, by the time they got there, had seen the police taking away the bodies of those that had died in the second attack. He told her of how they looked and how, if he had gotten there earlier... maybe he could have saved them.

"Oh, Waver-kun..." Martha pulled her tearful grandson into a hug and held him close as even more tears escaped his eyes. "Don't think like that. You and Rider-chan did all that you could. You didn't know what was going on and were in the park, Waver-kun. You couldn't have gotten their in time. So, don't blame yourself. Blame those responsible for this travesty."

Waver wanted to say that, with Rider's Noble Phantasm, he could have gotten there in time but he didn't. Martha was right: he hadn't known what was going to happen. He and Rider had just been walking through the park, talking to each other, before Rider had been about to reveal her true name to him. When they realized what was going on, they had gone to the hotel and Rider had checked the building to make sure that no one was there. And when they had gotten to the other site, it was already over.

There was nothing he could have done differently. It wasn't his fault.

"That's right, Waver-kun. Let it all out..." Martha said, patting onto her grandson's back as he leaned deeper into her embrace, shoulders shaking as he sobbed. "Just let it all out."

XXXXXX

(Fuyuki City—Tohshaka Manor—Tokiomi's Study)

Tokiomi could currently be found in his study, gazing at the worn book he had chosen to reread in an effort to pass the time. It had helped to brush up on the knowledge that he and his family had acquired over the years, in case he would need them. Quite frankly, while it had only been a couple of days, he was starting to get bored. Reading and practicing what he had learned or had already known was good but it could only do so much.

Inevitably, it led him back to thinking about the mess that young Kirei Kotomine had created. He had expected better of the young man and had thought that he had made his intentions clear. Apparently, he hadn't, as Kirei had decided to have Assassin attack two Servants and their Masters in _public_. Not only that, but Assassin had failed to eliminate either Saber or Lancer. It was regrettable, as it would have had him in a more forgiving mood in regards to Kirei's actions, but Caster had appeared.

It had taken him a little while to come up with and salvage everything while making sure that Kirei and Assassin hadn't ruined everything for them. Things were still a bit sticky regarding how they would progress, mainly if Caster would "accept" the role she was to play or be eliminated and if the other Masters would believe it, but... there was only so much he could do.

_'Why couldn't you have just waited, Kirei?'_ Tokiomi thought as he gave the book up as a lost cause and placed it down on his desk before rubbing his temples. "Things would've been so much simpler then..."

"Are you alright, Master?"

Tokiomi looked up from his desk and came face-to-face with Archer. Despite noted quirks—his obsession with history books, his hatred of dust, and his intense dislike for Kirei Kotomine—Tokiomi couldn't have wished for a better Servant than Archer. ... And it had nothing to do with the fact that Archer was a good cook and was adept with a sowing needle.

"I was just thinking of what we are doing to correct Kirei and Assassin's mistakes." Tokiomi stated with a small sigh, "Nothing for you to worry about, Archer."

Archer thought otherwise. Kirei and Assassin's actions had proved that they were as unreliable as he had first believed. If it were not for his Master's orders not to harm the two, he would have gotten rid of them already. It wouldn't have even been that hard. He now knew what Assassin was capable of while Assassin knew none of his abilities besides his Licht Regen. Assassin knew nothing of his Seele Schneider, his Gintō, or any of his Noble Phantasms.

The Servant of the Bow, however, knew better than to say anything against Kirei or the plans that his Master had come up with. His Master didn't take well to people criticizing his plans and his thoughts about Kirei had been waved away or simply ignored. So, why bother? It would be a better use of his time to not argue with his master and continuing to make and stockpile Gintō for the inevitable conflict with the other Masters and Servants.

"I understand, Master."

Tokiomi, having expected another comment about Kirei, sat there for a moment before he blinked. "... You may go back to what you were doing."

Archer nodded before turning on his heel and moving to the table that Tokiomi had set up for him. Already on it were a couple pouch-full capsules for his Gintō, completed, while countless more littered it. He picked up a handful, placing them in a test tube-like rack he had acquired, and was about to start the process of making the liquid that Gintō used to produce its effects.

The ringing of the Bounded Field's detection alarm momentarily froze him in place. He then turned around at the same time as Tokiomi, looking through the study's window and into the courtyard beyond. At the edge of the defensive/offensive Bounded Fields, but still within the Bounded Field meant for detection, stood a single figure.

Archer patted his side-pouch to make sure that he had enough Gintō capsules with him before vanishing within a flicker of Hirenkakyu as his Master left his study. The Servant of the Bow appeared in the same place where he had stood the last time his Master's manor had been attacked, glancing down at the solitary figure as he drew his bow. His eyes narrowed, "Licht Regen (Light Rain)."

There was a slight pause before hundreds Archer's signature blue-white arrows filled the air like a demented rain.

* * *

**A/N: Author's Note: **Before I begin, I would like to apologize for the long wait you, my dutiful readers, had to go through. My "excuse" is that I was sick with the flu and couldn't work up the inspiration for this chapter until a week ago. In all actuality, the inspiration came right before I went to sleep and bugged me until I began writing the chapter. While the chapter is somewhat short—*readers grumble*—it is more of a transitional chapter than anything.

Still, I addressed some issues that people had over Kirei's motivations last chapter, showed Kiritsugu and Maiya's thoughts about Kirei and Assassin's uncharacteristic actions, an emotionally confused Waver being comforted by Martha about his part in the battle (even if she was unaware of it), some more of Tokiomi and Archer. As for who is responsible for the attack on the Tohshaka Manor... well, I'll tell you rather than let you stew about it...

"The White Archer vs. The Mad Shifter!"


	14. Attention!

*******Attention**!: I have just returned from a two-week camping trip. During that trip, I came to understand that I am under too much pressure and that I can't handle all of what was going on and deliver you, my beloved readers, the monthly updates to my stories that I had putting out previously (as you who read _Pokémon: Eevee Chronicles_ will know and nod to each other about). Part of that was due to Graduation, lack of Muse, and my uncertainty regarding the fate of _Fate: Chaos_. Sadly... I can no longer continue _Fate: Chaos_. It's just too much for me and, as much as I enjoyed writing it, I cannot continue leading other people to wait for months while I try to force myself to write something.

In addition, I will be taking a small break in order to write a few chapters ahead. This does not mean that I will not post them but, until I get comfortably ahead enough, I won't say when I will post them. I am sorry for this inconvenience and wish this doesn't upset everyone too much... but I'm just one autistic person with a few AMAZING friends who help me out (my co-author Sharkteeth and my beloved beta-readers) and I need to do this. Sorry. *****


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